An upcoming landmark case launched in August argues that Treaty 9 guarantees First Nations jurisdiction over their Territories. This case is a frontal attack on the worst aspect of colonialism – the purported taking over by a then-newcomer government of all governance authority (jurisdiction) over what happens to, in, and on the lands. Kate Kempton is lead counsel in this case on behalf of several Northern Ontario First Nations affected by proposed mining in the Ring of Fire.
Join us as Kate Kempton and Professor John Borrows discuss what this case stands for, how it can be successful, what success of “decolonization” looks like, and what role we lawyers should play.
Kate Kempton is Senior Counsel at Woodward and Company. She is specialized in Indigenous rights, decolonization litigation and large-scale negotiations, and governance and self-determination. Her driving motivator is to decolonize the legal systems in Canada that have caused harm to human–and other-than–human–environments. Kate holds a BBA from the University of New Brunswick, a master’s degree in Journalism and Mass Communications from the University of Western Ontario, and is a U of T Law alumna.
Professor John Borrows is a member of the Chippewa of the Nawash First Nation. He is the inaugural Loveland Chair in Indigenous Law at our Faculty. As Canada's foremost scholar working in the area of Indigenous and Aboriginal Law, John has received numerous accolades for his work, including several book awards, honorary degrees (including one at U of T in 2019), an appointment as an Officer of the Order of Canada (2020), the Killam Prize (2017), the Molson Prize (2019), the Canadian Bar Association's President's Medal (2021), and most recently the Charles Taylor Prize (2023) in recognition of the significant impact his research has had on Canadian policy. John completed four degrees at U of T, including his JD and LLM, and was an early-career scholar with the Faculty of Law from 1998 to 2001.
