WANISKĀ: REIMAGINING THE FUTURE WITH INDIGENOUS LEGAL TRADITIONS

Abstract

With the release of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s final report, which stressed the revitalization of Indigenous legal traditions is essential to reconciliation, we are potentially at the cusp of a historical turning point in Canada.  As momentum around the revitalization of Indigenous laws grows, this raises many important questions for the future. Can we collectively imagine a Canada where Indigenous law is integrated and in use? What would, or should, this respectful relationship look like? This article explores these questions through narrative. Narrative, as many Indigenous and non-Indigenous thinkers have identified, has unique capacity to create space for conversations, spark imagination, and let us contemplate the incomprehensible. This article mindfully uses narrative as a means to vulnerably re-imagine a future relationship between Indigenous and other legal traditions in Canada. It acknowledges the deep-rooted enduring power of Indigenous laws, as well as both the immensity and transitory nature of current complexities. It names aspects of learning and engagement with the Cree legal tradition the author may never fully comprehend, but still senses are important. It grapples with the enormity of hope and despair, the power of violence and the power of love. It argues, through narrative, that law is living, time is fluid, change is possible and our shared future is ours to re-imagine.