The June Callwood Program in Aboriginal Law was established through an anonymous gift and matching funds from the University of Toronto, and named in honour of journalist, author, and social activist June Callwood. Half of the annual funds (approximately $25,000) are used for graduate fellowships for Indigenous graduate students. (The remaining half of the funds are used to support JD-level community internships in Aboriginal Law).
Student Experience
Signa Daum Shanks was the Callwood Program's first graduate fellowship recipient. This funding aided the completion of her LLM degree, with her thesis entitled "Reflections on Treaty-Making in British Columbia." While at the University of Toronto, Daum Shanks coached the Aboriginal Rights Moot team for the Faculty of Law and taught The Politics of Aboriginal Government for the Department of Political Science. While working on her Ph.D. in history at the University of Western Ontario, Prof. Daum Shanks was awarded a SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship. Daum Shanks is now Assistant Professor and Director of Indigenous Outreach at Osgoode Hall Law School.
SJD student Anna Flaminio is the current June Callwood Fellow in Aboriginal Law (see sidebar on right).
Encouraging Applications
The Graduate Program at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law encourages those of Indigenous descent to apply to the Program. The Faculty of Law has an excellent support system for Indigenous students, including the Indigenous Law Students' Association, a group that is open to students at all study levels, and the Indigenous Law Journal, a student-run publication dedicated to developing dialogue and scholarship in the field of Indigenous legal issues in Canada as well as internationally.
See the Graduate Studies Admissions pages for details about applying to the SJD program.
