Wanekia (Kia) Dunn

SJD Candidate
Thesis title:
Relationships with Land: Exploring applications of natural agency and rights of nature theory to facilitate innovations in Indigenous land tenure and governance
Office in Falconer Hall
84 Queen's Park
Toronto, M5S 2C5

Wanekia (Kia) Dunn is a doctoral candidate in the Faculty of Law. His research focus is on Indigenous and Aboriginal law, and intersections therein with constitutional law, property law, and the law of equity.  Kia wrote his LLM thesis “Cutting the Knot: Founding Canada and Restoring the Honour of the Crown” as an analysis of how to overcome the intractable knot that is the sui generis legal status of Indigenous peoples, and which holds Indigenous peoples precariously in a liminal space of legal exceptionalism.

Kia’s upcoming work seeks to explore pathways forward via innovations in land tenure within the space of declared Aboriginal title, as recognized in the Xeni Gwet’in of the Tsilhqot’in. His last few years of professional work have allowed him to learn from and work with several partner First Nations, including the Tsilhqot’in. This provided the understanding that it will be necessary for Canadians to expand the scope of what it can mean in law to have a relationship with lands and territories to enable substantive reconciliation to move forward.

The conceptual frameworks for recognizing lands and territories with a form of legal personhood akin to corporation are on the rise in Canada and internationally; they present distinct potential for manifesting Indigenous worldviews and lawful relations. The issue of standing is resolved when natural agency is understood to contain an inherent guardian and steward relation as between the lands and their First Peoples: a fundamental trust.  He returns to the Faculty of Law to more fully develop these conceptual tools so that they are available to facilitate self-governance.

Education
LLM, University of Toronto; JD, University of Toronto
MA Philosophy, Carleton University
BA (Hons) Philosophy, Carleton University
Awards and Distinctions
June Callwood Programme in Aboriginal Law (2020-2024)
Bennett Scholar (2018)
Other information
  • Panelist for the event “Dialogues on 175 Years of Canadian Democracy” alongside John Ralston Saul and Omayra Issa held in 2023.
  • Presented the “Indigenous Homelands Initiative – Housing and Governance Toolkit” to dozens of Nation, government, and industry leaders at the Yanonhchia Indigenous Housing Finance Network conference in 2022.
  • Facilitated a workshop for the Tsilhqot’in National Government to bring together leaders in housing and development to find consensus on a housing strategy across all six member communities in 2021.
  • Co-organized a conference entitled “Treaties Talk” held at Massey College which brought together expert panelists to discuss cross-border international agreements pertaining to Indigenous rights, specifically the Jay Treaty, in 2020.
  • Sat as chair of the Aboriginal Sovereignty panel held at Massey College as part of the series “Sovereignty in 2017: It’s Meaning for Canada and the World” held in, as you might suspect, 2017.
Research Interests
Aboriginal Law
Indigenous Legal Traditions
International Law
Legal Theory
Property Law
Supervisor
Committee Members

Valley of the Birdtail: A roadmap to reconciliation gifted to law students with donor support

Thursday, March 23, 2023

Valley of the birdtail authors and U of T Law students and faculty

Attendees received a complimentary copy of Valley of the Birdtail during the author talk held on March 15 in the Michael J. Trebilcock solarium, Falconer Hall. The session was moderated by Promise Holmes Skinner (JD 2013).

Professor John Borrows, Loveland Chair in Indigenous Law, wins the 2023 Charles Taylor Prize for Excellence in Policy Research

Friday, March 10, 2023

Professor John Borrows

John Borrows, Professor and Loveland Chair in Indigenous Law at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Law (photo Alice Xue Photography)

John Borrows, one of the world’s leading scholars of Indigenous law, has been awarded the 2023 Charles Taylor Prize for Excellence in Policy Research from the Broadbent Institute.

U of T Law event, March 2 & 3, delves into climate change from a legal and policy perspective

Tuesday, February 28, 2023

Man in a suit holding a green leaf

How is climate change affecting the law, and the role of law in society?

On March 2 & 3, the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Law, aims to broaden legal and policy discussions and explore how climate change is impacting law, and the legal profession at Law in a Changing World: The Climate Crisis.

Valley of the Birdtail: CBC Radio interview with Professor Douglas Sanderson

Thursday, September 29, 2022

Valley of the Birdtail bookcover (HarperCollins)

The Waywayseecappo Indian reserve was created on the West side of the Birdtail river in western Manitoba in 1877. Two years later, on the other side of the river, white settlers established a town named Rossburn.

“A gripping story about terrible wrongs”: U of T Law grad and prof draw lessons for Canada in new book

Tuesday, August 23, 2022

Andrew Stobo Sniderman and Douglas Sanderson (Amo Binashii)

In Valley of the Birdtail, alumnus Andrew Stobo Sniderman and Associate Professor Douglas Sanderson tell the story of two communities in Manitoba “divided by a valley, a river and 150 years of racism” (photos by Natasha Launi and Dewey Chang)

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