Resources for Lawyers Working with Indigenous Peoples

The No Longer on My Own (NOLOMO) project is funded by Women and Gender Equality Canada and the Nova Scotia Advisory Council on the Status of Women.

Resources
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Quick Links

Quick Links for Lawyers

Manuals, Toolkits and Training

A Guide for Lawyers Working with Indigenous Peoples:

This Guide is a starting resource to help lawyers and others in the justice system to learn about Indigenous cultures and understand the interplay between Indigenous legal orders and the Canadian legal system.

Communicating Effectively with Indigenous Clients:

This guide addresses various challenges and provides practical advice on building trust, understanding cultural and linguistic differences, and ensuring that Indigenous clients’ perspectives and rights are respected throughout the legal process.

Law and Legal Traditions:

This section of the Canadian Bar Association’s Truth and Reconciliation toolkit is meant as a quick reference guide to Aboriginal law, Indigenous terms, laws and legal traditions.

Cultural Perspectives Training:

Indigenous Perspectives Society: Centre of Excellence in Community Education (IPS) offers Cultural Perspectives Training (CPT) to help governments, organizations, businesses and individuals deepen their understanding and develop actionable ideas to respond to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Calls to Action and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People.

Articles & Reports

Decolonizing Family Law Through Trauma-Informed Practices

Author(s): Myrna McCallum and Haley Hrymak

Source: Rise Women’s Legal Centre (2022)

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Going the Distance: Supporting Rural and Remote Survivors with Family Law Issues

Author(s): Pamela Cross and Paula Wansbrough

Source: Luke’s Place (2016)

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Indigenous Family Violence: An Attempt to Understand the Problems and Inform Appropriate and Effective Responses to Criminal Justice System Intervention

Author(s): Andrew Day, Robin Jones, Martin Nakata & Dennis McDermott

Source: Psychiatry, Psychology, and Law

This Australian literature review aims to provide a resource for practitioners who work in the area of Indigenous family violence and a framework from within which culturally specific violence prevention programs can be developed and delivered. It is suggested that effective responses to Indigenous family violence need to be informed by culturally informed models of violence, and that significant work is needed to develop interventions that successfully manage the risk of perpetrators of family violence committing further offences.

Open here

Representing Colonial Violence: trafficking, sex work, and the violence of law

Author(s): Sarah Hunt

Source: Critical Perspectives on Canadian Anti-Trafficking Discourse

This article examines the emergence of the discourse on “domestic trafficking” of Indigenous girls and women for the purpose of sexual exploitation. Drawing on community-based experience, the author argues that the shift toward the language and framework of “human trafficking” to capture a range of offences and injustices facing Indigenous women is one of many efforts to recategorize violence against Indigenous women as worthy of legal response in the context of ongoing colonial legal violence.

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Experiences of Indigenous Families in the Family Justice System

Author(s): Nicole Armons, Dane Allard, Meribeth Deen, Sarah Jackson, Victoria Perrie, Victoria Weir, Lindsay Heller, Robert Daum

Source: Department of Justice Canada

This report seeks to create an understanding of the experiences of Indigenous families dealing with separation and divorce within the family justice system.

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Gender and Violence: Drawing on Indigenous Legal Resources

Author(s): Emily Snyder, Val Napoleon & John Borrows

Source: UBC Law Review

This article explores the intersection of gender and violence, drawing on Indigenous legal perspectives.

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Indigenous Women’s Experiences of Colonial Violence by the Canadian Legal System in the Context of their Intimate Partner Violence Relationships

Author(s): Emily Snyder, Val Napoleon & John Borrows

Source: UBC Law Review

This article explores the intersection of gender and violence, drawing on Indigenous legal perspectives.

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“None Of That Paper Stuff Works”: A Critique Of The Legal System’s Efforts To End Domestic Assault In Nunavut

Author(s): Chris Durant

Source: Appeal Publishing Society

Legal reforms to combat spousal abuse in Nunavut face the dual challenge of addressing both the patriarchal and colonizing aspects of the Canadian justice system. This paper examines whether organizations have designed their programs to effectively address both dimensions of the problem.

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Learning From Those on the Ice: The Impact of Bill C-75 on Nunavummiut

Author(s): Cassandra Richards

Source: University of Ottawa

This research considers the impact of Bill C-75, specifically the reverse onus in cases of IPV, on Nunavummiut. It argues that the introduction of the reverse onus will not only disproportionately and detrimentally affect Nunavummiut accused, it will simultaneously fail to keep complainants and society safer.

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Indigenous Family Violence: An Attempt to Understand the Problems and Inform Appropriate and Effective Responses to Criminal Justice System Intervention

Author(s): Andrew Day, Robin Jones, Martin Nakata & Dennis McDermott

Source: Psychiatry, Psychology, and Law

This Australian literature review aims to provide a resource for practitioners who work in the area of Indigenous family violence and a framework from within which culturally specific violence prevention programs can be developed and delivered. It is suggested that effective responses to Indigenous family violence need to be informed by culturally informed models of violence, and that significant work is needed to develop interventions that successfully manage the risk of perpetrators of family violence committing further offences.

Open here

Representing Colonial Violence: trafficking, sex work, and the violence of law

Author(s): Sarah Hunt

Source: Critical Perspectives on Canadian Anti-Trafficking Discourse

This article examines the emergence of the discourse on “domestic trafficking” of Indigenous girls and women for the purpose of sexual exploitation. Drawing on community-based experience, the author argues that the shift toward the language and framework of “human trafficking” to capture a range of offences and injustices facing Indigenous women is one of many efforts to recategorize violence against Indigenous women as worthy of legal response in the context of ongoing colonial legal violence.

Open here

Webinars

This webinar looks at the family and social context of young Indigenous women, and some legal considerations.

Books

Aboriginal Law Handbook:

This Handbook is a reference work to the law as it affects Indigenous peoples and organizations, for both lawyers and non-lawyers.