Canadian Lawyer

MORNING BULL: HELPING PEOPLE ANY WAY HE CAN morning, sharply dressed in jacket and tie, he can be seen talking to counsel or chatting to the police, security, and court officials, or sometimes a little more intently, engaging members of the public who seek him out. He has been part of the courthouse I downtown Courts Centre knows Lance Morning Bull. Almost every t seems everyone in Calgary's scene for more than a decade. Formerly an aboriginal court worker he is now a traffic court agent. His work has seen him help hundreds of First Nations people — and others — navigate the lower end of the often intimidating and complicated legal system. But while everyone seems to know Morning Bull is not a man who likes to talk about himself. But when Canadian Lawyer finally persuaded him to sit down and chat, he revealed that under the charming exterior is a person with a passionate dedication to improving access to justice for aboriginal people. And, more than that, he is also a man with a dream. Morning Bull is part of the Piikani Morning Bull, hardly anybody knows much about him. That is because First Nation near Pincher Creek in southern Alberta. He spent his early life mostly "shuffling back and forth" between the reserve and Calgary after his parents going to high school in Pincher Creek. As a teenager he describes himself as being preoccupied with saddle bronc rodeo riding and without much direc- tion. That is, until 19, when he got his high school sweetheart pregnant. He remembers going to the hospital just before midnight and the nurses telling him "you're the new dad of a beautiful baby girl. separated. He ended up ing her, overwhelmed," he recalls. In that moment he decided "to focus on " "I was standing there hold- WEST says. But after almost a decade in his job as a court worker, he found it get- ting harder to meet his obligations to his second wife, his young family, and his first daughter. Morning Bull turned to potentially more lucrative work focussing on peo- ple with traffic or ticket problems. His firm "Traffic Ticket Solutions" concen- trates mostly on aboriginal clients, "but I help anyone, Lance Morning Bull already works in the courts but has dreams of going to law school. providing for her." ence position with the RCMP and fell in love with the law. After graduating from high school, he pulled in a regular pay- cheque for two years laying waterlines on the reserve. But Morning Bull want- ed more. So he enrolled in Lethbridge Community College and pursued his interest in the law with criminology studies. But before he graduated, he accepted a job as a court worker in Calgary with the Native Counselling Services of Alberta, an organization with a mission to assist often-alienated First Nation clients in trouble with the law. That summer he got a work experi- tance to unrepresented clients, some- times he approached the Crown for them, and sometimes he offered a little life skill guidance. Many were burdened with not just legal problems, but social, emotional, and health issues as well. While he does not say it, every time Morning Bull dealt with a client he also provided a role model. It was satisfying work. "I just like helping people, Sometimes he provided direct assis- " he set up an office a half block from the courthouse and in the same building as Native Counselling, which cannot recommend specific services to clients, but proximity is proving an asset for Morning Bull. Business is growing but sitting in his small, crowded office he says, "I want to go beyond traffic tick- ets. I' " he is quick to add. He Morning Bull's dream. He has started taking undergraduate d love to get into law." That is courses at the University of Calgary. He is finding it difficult to juggle his work and his family with the demands of university. Especially because his wife works for an airline, which means her schedule takes her away a lot. But while getting back into education may be slow, Morning Bull is determined to keep at it and ultimately do well enough to get into law school, "somewhere, sometime". "I sometimes think at 37, I'm too old." But then he begins to talk about the need for enhancing aboriginal access to the court system. He knows in criminal law, the area that most interests him, there are too few aboriginal lawyers. "I have a heart for my people, very seriously, touching his chest "I've got to go further. I need to do legal work focused on aboriginal people. " he says Then Morning Bull's signature smile comes back. "Hey, I can't give up." " — GEOFF ELLWAND writerlaw@gmail.com www.CANADIAN Lawyermag.com OCTO BER 2012 11

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