Canadian Lawyer 4Students

C A N A D I A N L a w y e r 4STUDENTS AUGUST 2016 53 ast year, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission issued its much anticipated report on six years of information gather- ing from across Canada amassing volumes of witness state- ments from thousands of Indian residential schools survivors and from those involved in the system that has become what some say is Canada's greatest shame. Instead of releasing recommendations like most inquiries, the three-member commission released 94 Calls to Action chal- lenging the governments from across Canada to implement the Unit- ed Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and to educate Canadians on residential schools and their impacts on First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples. ere is a section entitled Justice that calls for sweeping changes to Canada's justice system with two of the Calls to Action focusing on the education of law students and the training of practising lawyers. e Call to Action #27 states: We call upon the Federation of Law Societies of Canada to ensure that lawyers receive appropriate cultural competency training, which includes the history and legacy of residen- tial schools, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Treaties and Aboriginal rights, Indigenous law, and Aborigi- nal–Crown relations. is will require skills-based training in intercul- tural competency, confl ict resolution, human rights, and anti-racism. e Call to Action #28 states: We call upon law schools in Canada to require all law students to take a course in Aboriginal people and the law, which includes the history and legacy of residential schools, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Trea- a time for change CANADIAN LAW SCHOOLS ARE RESPONDING TO THE TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION'S CALL TO ACTION ON THE EDUCATION OF LAW STUDENTS AND TRAINING OF LAWYERS. BY MERVIN BRASS features 4S Embracing L PHOTOGRAPHY BY THOMAS FRICKE

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