Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, Aki-kwe, is the Academic Director of the Residential School History and Dialogue Centre, and a professor in UBC’s faculty of law. Over the past year she has been active in drafting legislation, appearing before the House of Commons and Senate committees, and ensuring that Indigenous voices are represented and heard in Government. Here are some of the notable projects Aki-kwe has worked on this past year.
Child welfare and language legislation
Aki-kwe has actively advocated for the TRC calls to action #1-5, especially the First Nations efforts to have child welfare and languages legislation passed by the Parliament of Canada to continue the critical work of reconciliation for those impacted by residential schools.
In June 2018, she chaired a National conference on Indigenous Child Welfare at the UBC Robson Square downtown Vancouver location which brought together more than 200 Indigenous child welfare experts, lawyers, Chiefs and residential school Survivors to discuss transformation of the child welfare system. Organized in partnership with the Pacific Business Law Institute, the Conference included analysis of Bill C-92 on child and family services, the application of UNDRIP, and the TRC Calls to Action. Indigenous representatives from BC, Yukon, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario participated in the event and were able to identify the pathways for change to break from the colonial system.
On June 21, 2019, Royal Assent was given to Bill C-92, an Act respecting First Nations, Metis, and Inuit Child and Family Services, and Bill C-91, an Act Respecting Indigenous Languages. Aki-kwe appeared before House of Commons and Senate Committees on these Bills and worked with experts and children and youth to ensure the Calls to Action were guiding the efforts.
“These legislative changes were the result of more than 2 years of sustained and coordinated advocacy to see meaningful steps taken to address the legacy of residential schools,” says Turpel-Lafond. She chaired a national policy panel comprised of representatives from the three National Indigenous Organizations—AFN, MNC, ITK, and supported the co-development of legislation by advising and working with the chiefs of the Assembly of First Nations and the BC First Nations Leadership Council, as well as the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations.
“This new legislation for children and families is essential to address the humanitarian crisis of the overrepresentation of Indigenous children and youth in care in Canada. It contains bold principles and policies that were informed by Survivors and leaders who have been working for generations to overcome the legacy of schools, and recover from the colonial experience in Canada,” says Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, Aki-kwe
Indigenous language revitalization is also a passion of Aki-kwe’s. To support this, she coordinated with lawyers and experts on Indigenous languages to develop a Bill that would support the creation of an Indigenous Languages commissioner, and a fully funded program to support Indigenous languages fluency, revitalization and transmission of Indigenous knowledge and values through language learning.
Placing this work within the context of the TRC’s Calls to Action, and UNDRIP—including human rights principles—was a key focus for Aki-kwe. While C-91 was given Royal Assent, Aki-kwe will continue to work with Survivors and leaders, such as Grand Chief Edward John, to promote a coherent and cohesive approach to reconciliation informed by support for First Nations peoples to celebrate, transmit and have affirmed our rights to languages, child and family jurisdiction and self-determination.
Defence of the rule of law
Aki-kwe appeared before the House of Commons Justice Committee as an expert on criminal and constitutional law during the hearings on the independence of prosecutions in Canada, and was vocal in supporting the courageous efforts of Puglaas (Jody Wilson-Raybould)—the first Indigenous Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada (and a UBC grad) – in her stand in defence of the rule of law.
“This is a critical aspect of upholding Indigenous laws on truth-telling, and the value to First Nations customs and traditions of matriarchs in their essential role of being able to stand up to authority and insist that matters get addressed, even if unpopular or in the face of pressure,” says Turpel-Lafond.
Aki-kwe spoke to Canadians and news agencies, frequently linking the role and position of Puglaas to the issues of addressing the legacy of colonialism and the exclusion of First Nations women—and emphasizing the value of the leadership and voice of Puglaas as a matriarch and lawyer in bringing a fresh politics to the House of Commons.
Day school settlement
The residential day school class action settlement has been proceeding and there is clearer recognition of the impact and harm to First Nations, Inuit and Metis children who attended day school returning home to their families each day. The time to address legal requirements and process for providing compensation from Canada to the students has been a long one—and many survivors are Elders.
Aki-kwe has promoted the resolution of these matters in an expeditious manner to ensure these students can receive a settlement. The Centre has always included the experiences of all school attendees in the development of programming, and with the resolution of some of the outstanding claims by these Survivors.
Implementation of UNDRIP in BC
The Centre’s first dialogue was on the implementation of UNDRIP in British Columbia and Canada— the TRC referred to UNDRIP as the “framework for reconciliation.” The report from the dialogue contains practical steps to embrace UNDRIP in a more coherent and consistent way in BC for meaningful reconciliation.
On February 12, 2019, the BC Government Throne Speech committed to UNDRIP legislation in Fall 2019. Aki-kwe is working with the Union of BC Indian Chiefs and the First Nations Leadership Council of BC on advocating for legislation that will accomplish the implementation of UNDRIP in BC as a principled human rights approach to addressing the legacy of colonialism and denial of rights of Indigenous peoples.
“I am so proud of the work of residential school Survivors who have pushed for the TRC Calls to Action to be meaningful, and have directed us to see this work completed. So many of these leaders, like Cree MP Romeo Saganash, have experienced the oppression of these schools yet emerged to channel all of their energy into reconciliation. While I was disappointed that Bill C262 on UNDRIP did not make it through the Senate of Canada—I know it will be reintroduced in the next government and the campaign for justice and human rights, and the TRC calls to Action, will continue for many of us—working alongside Survivors, with a vision of a more just society for our children and communities.” – Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, Aki-kwe
Aki-kwe is continuing to work tirelessly towards these issues, to fulfill the Centre’s crucial mandate. Stay tuned for more updates from the Director.