Reconciliation with Indigenous peoples in Canada requires structural transformation. One essential site of institutional reform is the country’s legal systems. 

In 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada released 94 calls to action. In call to action #42, the TRC called upon “the federal, provincial, and territorial governments to commit to the recognition and implementation of Aboriginal justice systems in a manner consistent with the Treaty and Aboriginal rights of Aboriginal peoples, the Constitution Act, 1982, and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples endorsed by Canada in November 2012.” 

To understand what meaningful reform could look like, we ask: How should Canada engage with Indigenous legal traditions?

On this episode of Open to Debate, David Moscrop talks with Dr. Val Napoleon, dean, professor, and Law Foundation Chair of Indigenous Justice and Governance at the University of Victoria, and Dr. Hadley Friedland, associate professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Alberta.