Practicing Law North of 60: The Path of a Northern Lawyer – OKT

I’ve lived and practiced law across Northern Canada for nearly a decade. When I started this journey, it was just me, quite literally.

My arrival in the North began in the Kitikmeot Region of Nunavut. I was based in the hamlet of Cambridge Bay, or Iqaluktuttiaq meaning “good fishing place” in the area’s traditional Inuit language, Inuinnaqtun. While it was the largest community on Victoria Island, the entire population was far less than you’d find in a square mile of Calgary or Regina, much less Toronto or Montreal. And on the day I arrived, I singlehandedly doubled the number of resident civil lawyers for the entire Region—an area consisting of 5 Inuit communities spread across nearly half a million square kilometers.

Crossing Borders to make a small Difference and the Path North

To put that geography into greater perspective, the land and ice spread across the Kitikmeot Region was double that of the entire country of Ghana—which happened to be the West African country where I had most recently been practicing law with a human rights organization before moving North.

Read More: https://www.oktlaw.com/practicing-law-north-of-60-the-path-of-a-northern-lawyer/