The city of Vancouver and most populated regions of British Columbia exist on land that was stolen from Indigenous peoples. It therefore makes sense that legal experts living in these areas understand this, the Indigenous peoples on whose land they live and work, and their unique cultures and relationships with the settler societies that dominate North America today.

The Law Society of British Columbia (LSBC) appears to recognize that this is important. Last Friday (December 6), it announced that lawyers trained in B.C. should graduate with “knowledge of the history of Aboriginal-Crown relations, the history and legacy of residential schools and specific legislation regarding Indigenous peoples of Canada”.

The goal is to “provide lawyers with a foundation of knowledge to be ready to inform and respond to changes in laws and the legal system in an age of reconciliation”, a LSBC’s website reads.

Beginning in 2021, any lawyer practicing in B.C. will be required to complete the course, which consists of six hours of training and testing online.

“The Truth and Reconciliation Commission revealed a gap in legal education in an area that the Benchers have recognized is a core area of competency for lawyers,” LSBC president and governing member Nancy Merrill said quoted in a release. “We are acting in the public interest by establishing training that provides lawyers with a baseline of education to address this pressing and substantial need.”

Patricia Barkaskas, academic director of UBC’s Indigenous Community Legal Clinic, is quoted there stating that the initiative is about knowledge and relationships.

"It is not just the relationship between one lawyer and one client,” she explained. “It is the relationship between Indigenous peoples and the legal profession. When we are talking about the legal profession, we are talking about people who had had power over Indigenous peoples for much of history. Having historical knowledge and understanding of Indigenous laws will change the nature of that relationship and make it better.”

Indigenous issues are deeply entwined in some of the greatest legal questions in B.C. today, including those concerning natural-gas developments and oil-pipeline construction, child welfare, and the disproportionate victimization of Indigenous women, among others.

The LSBC will offer the course for free beginning in 2021. Lawyers will have two years to complete it.