Reconciliation : Wahkohtowin Conference (webcast now available)

This past September, several current graduate students at the UVic Faculty of Law presented papers at the Reconciliation: Wahkotowin Conference in Edmonton. The conference, hosted by the University of Alberta’s Centre for Constitutional Studies, brought together scholars, Indigenous Elders, community members, policy makers, and students to discuss Indigenous law and reconciliation.

The conference was the third in a series of conferences held in 2017 on Canadian constitutional law as part of the Constitution 150 project organized by the Public Law Group at the University of Ottawa, the Centre for Constitutional Studies, and the Université de Montréal.

From the Conference website:

Inspired by the insights of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, UNDRIP and the treaty relationships that constitute Canada’s first constitutional law, our conference will focus on how to translate the spirit of reconciliation into constitutional text, practice, culture, and law. Is constitutional reconciliation the appropriate concept to pursue? If so, how might it be accomplished? We are particularly interested in the ways in which Indigenous laws and Indigenous constitutionalism can serve as models to chart a path forward, or provide a re-imagining of constitutional relationships within Canada.

UVic graduate students who presented included:

  • Alan Hanna (Faculty of Law, PhD candidate) presenting his paper “The Ties that Liberate: A Theory of Relationality in Substantiating Indigenous Legal Obligations” as part of the panel on Treaties and Relations.

You can watch the full set of webcasts on the Wahkohtowin Conference YouTube Playlist.

Papers presented at the conference will be published in upcoming issues of  the Constitutional Forum and the Review of Constitutional Studies.