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CROSS EXAMINED 'A good thing going on' Naiomi Metallic is putting down roots — in a profession, a firm, and a community. BY DONALEE MOULTON Naiomi Metallic became the first Mi'kmaq law clerk in the history of Canada's Supreme Court. she practises in the area she does. Metallic, an associate with Burchells C LLP in Halifax, grew up in Listuguj, a First Nations community on the Gaspé Coast. Although the second largest Mi'kmaq centre in the Maritimes, there was no school, so Metallic was bussed to Campbellton, N.B., a predominantly French community. It was in many ways a reflection of Metallic's own two solitudes: her father was Mi'kmaq; her mother is French-Canadian. The Sugarloaf Senior High School student, who is fluent in French, did well, placing third in the graduating class of 1998. It was a testament to her ommunity is important to Naiomi Walqwan Metallic. In fact, it's at the heart of how she ended up in law school and why hard work, her ability — and her dad, who had graduated from St. Thomas University in Fredericton. "He was one of the first [in our community] to get a university education. He always encour- aged his three daughters," says Metallic. That encouragement took the gradu- ating senior to Dalhousie University and the largest city on the East Coast. "When I took off for the big city of Halifax, I was not fulfilled," says Metallic. So she did what her family and her community had taught her: changed the situation. First, Metallic switched to a double major: English and philosophy. "I liked thinking in big concepts," she says. Metallic also enjoyed her history classes. "I was learn- ing more about Canada's relationship with Aboriginal peoples. In high school, there wasn't much of a contemporary Mi'kmaq history." 18 OCTO BER 2011 www. CANADIAN Lawyermag.com In addition to hitting the books, the transplanted Mi'kmaq student began searching out her own place on campus. "I was trying to build a community here," says Metallic. Her foundation was the Native Education Counselling Unit, an on-campus drop-in and resource centre. "You could go, congregate, and feel com- fortable. You could have a cup of tea and talk to people." One of the people Metallic spent time talking to was Patricia Doyle-Bedwell, a law school faculty member who headed up the Indigenous Blacks & Mi'kmaq Initiative at the time. "She suggested law," Metallic remembers. It was a suggestion that took time to resonate. "I had no idea I wanted to go to law school until about third year." One reason for her reluctance: "I was never one of those people who liked to dAN cAllis