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Meet the Recipient of our 2020 Indigenous Law Student Scholarship!

Press Release

As part of our commitment to supporting the development of Indigenous lawyers, First Peoples Law is pleased to announce the 2020 recipient of our $5,000 Indigenous Law Student Scholarship, awarded to an Indigenous law student with a demonstrated commitment to serving and advancing the interests of Indigenous Peoples.

Everyone at First Peoples Law is extremely excited for the opportunity to support our scholarship recipients in their studies. We are confident they will make important contributions to defending the rights of Indigenous Peoples across Canada.

Bruce

Congratulations to Taryn Hamilton!

Taryn, Nēhîthâwâk (Woodland Cree) is a proud member of the Barren Lands First Nation and a second-year law student enrolled in the Joint Degree Program in Canadian Common Law and Indigenous Legal Orders at the University of Victoria.

I will become a First Nations lawyer who works for and advocates for our youth, missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, men, and boys, and all of our brothers and sisters who continue to be disproportionately impacted by the Canadian justice system. In the future I hope to create effective law reform to help solve the over-representation of Indigenous people incarcerated. As a Nēhîthâwâk Iskwew I value the importance of restorative justice and finding new means of healing and justice through Cree law. I full heartedly believe that our Cree law, our own Nations traditional ways of knowing – will heal our people.

I am immensely grateful to be this year’s recipient of the First Peoples Law scholarship. I would like to acknowledge and celebrate every applicant who applied, I’m so proud of every single one of you. When one of us succeeds, we all succeed. I know how hard it can be to navigate your way through law school, and I’m very proud to be on this journey alongside so many amazing Indigenous soon-to-be lawyers. Our voices are invaluable, we are the catalyst for change and our knowledge can change the world. I would like to express my sincere appreciation for the folks at First Peoples Law, thank you for your support and encouragement, I am grateful for your help.

Kinanâskomitin (Thank you).

–Taryn Hamilton

Honourable Mentions

Congratulations to Jodi Hancheroff and Candace Charlie!

Tanisi, my name is Jodi Hancheroff and I am a Woodland Cree woman from the Lac La Ronge Indian Band in Saskatchewan. I am a second-year law student and currently President of the Indigenous Law Students’ Association at the College of Law, University of Saskatchewan. I am passionate about the Cree culture and academia. I dream of working in the field of Indigenous law (i.e. resource development, Treaty/inherent rights and environmental law) and of eventually returning to my Northern community to open my own practice. I am truly grateful for the opportunity from First Peoples Law, tiniki.

‘Uy’ Skweyul (Good Day), my name is Candace Charlie. I come from the Kwa’mutsun (Quamichan) village of the Quw’utsun Mustimuhw (Cowichan People). I am in my third year of part-time studies in the JD program at the University of Victoria’s Faculty of Law, and I work part-time for my First Nation, Cowichan Tribes, in its Lulumexun Lands & Self-Governance Department. I hope to use my law degree in whatever way I can to best assist Indigenous communities to grow and prosper on their own terms and according to their own vision.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to apply for the scholarship. We’re looking forward to carrying it on next year.

Check out our new podcast episode featuring last year’s recipients Tagalik Eccles and Saul Brown in conversation with First Peoples Law articled student Charlotte Rose: Reclaiming the Law: Indigenous Law Students in Conversation.

IBF5

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