Announcement on behalf of the Students’ Law Society
The Students’ Law Society and Indigenous Law Students’ Association are pleased to announce the recipients of the inaugural TRC Teaching Award for the 2019-2020 academic year:
- Professor Kent Roach – Full-Time Faculty Recipient
- Adjunct Professor Kerry Wilkins – Adjunct Faculty Recipient
On behalf of all JD students, congratulations to Professor Roach and Professor Wilkins, and thank you both for your outstanding teaching of Indigenous perspectives, topics, and law, and Canadian Aboriginal Law. We are grateful for your dedication to students, and to furthering the Faculty of Law’s commitment to Truth & Reconciliation.
All JD students were eligible to nominate and vote for the recipients of this award. We want to acknowledge the very thoughtful nominations that students submitted to recognize their professors. Thank you to the following professors who were nominated because of their demonstrated commitment to teaching Indigenous topics:
- Professor Kent Roach
- Professor Yasmin Dawood
- Professor Lisa Austin
- Professor Jutta Brunnée
- Professor Richard Stacey
- Professor Andrew Green
Thank you to all faculty members who have dedicated their time and effort to learning and teaching Indigenous perspectives, topics, and law, and Canadian Aboriginal Law, as a part of their curriculum. Your efforts are important to students and not unnoticed.
SLS thanks the Indigenous Law Students’ Association and the Indigenous Initiatives Office for their partnership in creating this award.
TRC Teaching Award – Description & Purpose
Starting in the 2019-20 academic year, the Students’ Law Society (SLS) will introduce a teaching award to recognize professors at the Faculty of Law who have made an outstanding contribution to the implementation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) Call to Action #28 by teaching course content involving Indigenous perspectives, topics, and law, as well as Canadian Aboriginal Law. The purpose of the award is to recognize professors who are doing an excellent job of teaching Indigenous perspectives, topics, and law, as well as Canadian Aboriginal Law, and to encourage professors to integrate this content into the curriculum by signaling that it is important to our students that The University of Toronto Faculty of Law prioritize our commitment to Truth and Reconciliation.
Truth and Reconciliation Commission Call to Action #28:
In order to redress the legacy of residential schools and advance the process of Canadian reconciliation, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission makes the following calls to action.
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28. We call upon law schools in Canada to require all law students to take a course in Aboriginal people and the law, which includes the history and legacy of residential schools, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Treaties and Aboriginal rights, Indigenous law, and Aboriginal–Crown relations. This will require skills-based training in intercultural competency, conflict resolution, human rights, and antiracism.
