Canadian Lawyer

w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m J U N E 2 0 1 6 39 n the realm of traditional or cultural knowledge, is there an argument to be made that current intellectual property conventions don't go far enough? Is there also an argument to be made that economically there is a need to reframe the way we view protection of knowl- edge from the past? It's a topic Merle Alexander has been thinking and talking about since he was a law student 17 years ago. Alexander is a member of the Kitasoo Xai'xais First Nation and a partner at Gowling WLG in Vancouver practising aboriginal resource law. He has a personal and professional interest in the protection of aborigi- nal intellectual property rights, particularly traditional knowledge. He has negotiated treaty chapters on cul- tural heritage resources, drafted traditional knowledge protocols, and represented national aboriginal organi- zations in various international forums. Alexander was a student when he was asked by a client to do research into Canada's legal position on intellectual property jurisdiction. The issue has bothered him ever since. "The Canadian government takes the position that aboriginal people don't have legal jurisdiction over intellectual property rights," says Alexander. "The World Intellectual Property Organi- zation is trying to look at ways of reforming IP law to allow for the protection of traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expression." Today, Alexander is part of the research team known as IPinCH — Intel- lectual Property Issues in Cultural Heritage — at Simon Fraser University. He says the subject comes up whenever there are amendments to the Indian Act and the issue over whether First Nations have jurisdiction to protect their own heritage. Intellectual property law is mostly about com- mercializing patents and fostering ingenuity for com- mercial purposes, so the idea of opening up a body of law to make changes to deal with cultural issues has been met with a "significant body of resistance in Canada," says Alexander. He thinks there should be amendments made to a variety of laws including IP law. "Some of the most powerful changes would be to the IP jurisdiction," he says. "New Zealand took the responsibility very seriously in the late '90s with the Maori culture in which a variety of amendments I future future back ip to the It's a murky area of law now, but intellectual property experts are exploring when and where traditional knowledge should be protected for the future. By Jennifer Brown I CARL WIENS, I2I ART intellectual property special report

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