Indigenous Bar Association Assumes Its Responsibility to Act on Reconciliation

For Immediate Release
October 15, 2015

Indigenous Bar Association Assumes Its Responsibility to Act on Reconciliation

Toronto, Ontario, October 15, 2015 –Lawyers, academics and students attending the Indigenous Bar Association meeting in Toronto have declared acceptance of their responsibility to help implement the Calls to Action issued by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. “It is incumbent upon Indigenous lawyers, scholars and students and, the legal professional in general, to embrace the report and respond to the challenge of reconciliation”, said IBA President Koren Lightning-Earle.

The Indigenous Bar Association is holding its 27^th Annual Fall Conference in Toronto. The meeting is focused on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Call to Action. The participants are gathered to hear from two of the Commissioners, Justice Murray Sinclair and Chief Wilton Littlechild. As well there are a series of workshops that presents and considers the Calls to Action in specific contexts such as legal education, judicial training, child welfare, film and media, and missing women and girls.

“Based on direction from the members of the IBA and the fact that there are specific Calls to Action that requires our leadership, we will be seeking partnerships and cooperative approaches with various legal institutions such as law societies, law schools and judicial training bodies to implement specific Calls to Action” said Board Member Scott Robertson. Robertson added, “ the IBA will be immediately communicating with relevant legal and judicial bodies to invite their participation in getting the work done.”

Among the Calls to Action is the identification of the importance of knowledge and education regarding the history and legacy of residential schools, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, treaties, aboriginal rights, indigenous laws, and aboriginal-crown relations. According to President Lightning-Earle, the information will help the effectiveness of the legal profession to serve indigenous clients and for the Administration of Justice to deliver justice to indigenous peoples.

The conference continues until Saturday at the Chelsea Hotel in Toronto, Ontario.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: contact Koren Lightning-Earle, President of the Indigenous Bar Association at: klightning-earle@indigenousbar.ca or at 780.721.2345 or Scott Robertson at srobertson@indigenousbar.ca or 705-325-0520 at visit our website at www.indigenousbar.ca.