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Two Indigenous professors have been named among the Top 25 Most Influential Lawyers by Canadian Lawyer Magazine.
In a press statement, the Indigenous Bar Association congratulated Dr. John Borrows and Professor Naiomi Metallic on the honor.
Dr. John Borrows was named in the Changemakers category. He is Anishinaabe/Ojibway and a member of the Chippewas of the Nawash from Cape Croker Indian Reserve in Ontario, Neyaashiinigmiing.
Borrows is a world-renowned law professor at the University of Victoria. His scope of research includes Indigenous governance and sovereignty, treaties, constitutional law and Indigenous law.
Dr. Borrows currently holds the Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Law at the University of Victoria Law School and the Nexen Chair in Indigenous Leadership at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. He helped shape the recommendations of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP) and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC).
He has appeared before Parliament most recently to provide his opinion regarding Bill C-262 – an Act to ensure that the laws of Canada are in harmony with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Dr. Borrows is an esteemed IBA member and is also a member of the IBA’s Indigenous Peoples Counsel (IPC), reads the release. Dr. Borrows is invaluable member of the IBA and to the Indigenous People of Canada. The importance of John’s work cannot be understated.
Professor Naiomi Metallic was named by the magazine in the Human Rights, Advocacy and Criminal Law category. She is an assistant professor of law at the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University. Professor Metallic holds the Chancellor’s Chair in Aboriginal Law and Policy.
Metallic is also the founding director of the Listuguj Aboqonmadultinech Community Foundation and member of the Council of Canadian Academics Expert Panel on Policing in Indigenous Communities.
Professor Metallic clerked at the Supreme Court of Canada with Justice Michel Bastarache and was admitted to the Bar in 2008. She worked for almost a decade in Aboriginal law at Burchells LLP and has made her mark in academia. Her areas of research include Aboriginal law, Indigenous law, constitutional law, administrative law, equality and human rights law and diversity in legal education, the legal profession and the judiciary.
Professor Metallic grew up in the Mi’gmaq community of Listuguj First Nation located in the Gespe’gewa’gi district of Mi’kma’ki on the Gaspé Coast of Quebec. She is the daughter of a famous Mi’gmaw linguist, Emmanuel Nagugwes Metallic.
The Indigenous Bar Association is a national association comprised of Indigenous lawyers (practicing and non-practicing), legal academics and scholars, articling clerks and law students, including graduate and post-graduate.