By Lisa Del Col, Aboriginal Law Program Coordinator
The Faculty of Law is pleased to highlight the work of the first four students to complete the requirements for the JD/Certificate in Aboriginal Legal Studies. Established in the 2012-2013 academic year, this certificate is for students who have a vocational or intellectual interest in the intersection between law and the history, politics, thought, or practices of Aboriginal Law.
The program complements students’ legal training by providing an interdisciplinary framework within which concepts and methods from the study of law can be applied to a relevant topic in Aboriginal Studies. Students complete the certificate in accordance with Faculty of Law requirements and in conjunction with the Aboriginal Studies Program through the Arts and Science program at the University of Toronto. This includes particular coursework, significant writing in the field of Aboriginal law, and a public presentation at First Nations House at the University of Toronto.
The four students who completed the certificated (all members of the Class of 2013) contributed a great deal of insight to the realm of Aboriginal law in unique and thoughtful ways.
 In his paper and presentation Aboriginal offenders and Mandatory Minimum Sentences: How Ipeelee and the Charter May Avoid Disproportionate Effects, Mark Carter argued the Ipeelee decision increases the likelihood that various Charter challenges (namely under ss. 7, 15, and 7) against mandatory minimum sentences (MMS) will be more successful in the context of Aboriginal offenders. Carter argued when the Gladue principles are taken seriously, sentencing judges are far more likely to make a thorough analysis of the Charter issues and are generally more likely to find that a MMS has infringed a Charter right. |
 Rebecca Sutton focused her research on access to justice for federally sentenced women with mental health issues, with a spotlight on Aboriginal women. Her paper, In Safe Custody: Litigation Options for Federally-Sentenced Women with Mental Health Issues, explored how civil litigation might be used creatively to address the administration of sentences for this segment of the prison population. Sutton considered the potential for an action in negligence, a class action, and an action specific to Aboriginal prisoners. To ground the legal actions she focused specifically on: (1) Correctional Services Canada’s (CSC) use of administrative segregation, (2) CSC’s failure to provide mental health care, and (3) the security classification system.
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 In her presentation, Haudenosaunee Sovereignty in Canadian Courts, Alice Tsier discussed how Six Nations have been unable to vindicate a claim to sovereignty in the courts in part because courts tend to say that Six Nations are incompetent to question the Crown’s assumption of sovereignty over the Haudenosaunee as it is an act of state. Tsier argues this position is based on an outdated vision of the relationship between the Crown and courts, that Canadian courts should be willing to take up the question. |
 Promise Holmes Skinner’s research focused on child welfare and its ties to the sentencing principles outlined in Ipeelee and Gladue. In her presentation, Interpreting s.718.2(e): Giving judicial notice to the child welfare system and a lack of Aboriginal identity, she argued that Canadian child welfare practices are a systemic factor that must be given judicial notice when sentencing Aboriginal offenders, and suggested that a lack of Aboriginal identity or connection s a background factor that must also be given judicial notice. |
