Aboriginal & Indigenous Law

Lakehead University’s Bora Laskin Faculty of Law is one the first law schools in Canada to include stand alone mandatory courses on Indigenous legal issues in its curriculum. We believe that it is vital that our students are aware of not only the law generally, but how that law impacts on Indigenous peoples. To that end we believe that it is important for our students to better understand Aboriginal peoples and their perspectives on the law. Therefore, understanding Indigenous and Aboriginal law is a cornerstone of our curriculum. In first year, we have a mandatory semester course, Indigenous Law. In second year, we have a mandatory full year course, Aboriginal Law.

We also incorporate Indigenous legal issues – such as Gladue principles in the context of criminal sentencing or the laws pertaining to the wills of Indigenous peoples – throughout our other courses.

Finally, we embrace Indigenous culture and history through experiential learning in our first year course, Indigenous Perspectives, and through our speaker series and other events. 

We work closely with local Indigenous community leaders and have signed an Aboriginal Protcol Agreement to "establish a strong, meaningful and respectful working relationship regarding the Faculty of Law".

A big thank you to the Law Foundation of Ontario for their support of many of our Indigenous Education Initiatives, sponsoring summer law student positions in the Debwewin Summer Law Program, and many Access to Justice events coordinated by our Law Student Organizations!