A recent $6-million injection of funding from the Ontario government through the "Access to Opportunities Strategy," aimed at boosting the number of Aboriginal post-secondary graduates province-wide, will help support a range of Aboriginal initiatives at the University of Toronto. About one-quarter of the $200,000 grant U of T received has been earmarked for the Faculty of Law. Other University of Toronto funding recipients include the faculties of Physical Education and Health, Arts and Science, and First Nations House and Ontario Institute for the Study of Education.
The generous grant will be used by the Faculty of Law to explore strategies to bolster current efforts at supporting Aboriginal students in law and law-related careers. The grant has also been directed towards the acquisition of Aboriginal-related library materials, making the Faculty of Law's legal collection among the best in Canada. "This collection will provide scholars with comprehensive access to legal, as well as sociological, historical and anthropological material. It is easily the strongest Aboriginal legal collection in the country. We're thrilled to be able to offer this at our library," says Bora Laskin Law Library Acting Chief Librarian John Papadopoulos.
Also as part of the funding, the faculty's LAWS program, working with U of T's First Nations House, will organize an educational outreach symposium for Aboriginal youth in April. Bussed in from across the province, high school students will be welcomed to the event by an Aboriginal elder, with opening remarks from recently appointed Faculty of Law Professor Douglas Sanderson. The one-day event will include justice-related workshops and a mock trial.
Greg Sitch, acting director of the LAWS program at the Faculty of Law, says that he is thrilled that this event will also coincide with "Law Week," an annual program designed to encourage young people to think about careers in law and run by the Ontario Bar Association in partnership with the Law Society of Upper Canada and the Ontario Justice Education Network.
"Our goal was to inspire and encourage," says Sitch. "We want to provide Aboriginal young people with a chance to learn about all the post-secondary opportunities in law and law-related careers, and to engage in discussions around justice issues that affect them directly."
First Nations House was instrumental in recruiting students for the one-day program, and is also working with the LAWS program to develop both evaluation and follow-up tools to keep participants engaged. The Faculty of Law is hoping to turn the program into an annual event.
According to government statistics, there are about 50,000 Aboriginal students in the Ontario publicly funded school system and approximately 11,000 enrolled at post-secondary institutions.
Dean Mayo Moran says that it is very encouraging to see the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities and the Law Foundation of Ontario (LFO) engaging in this issue and giving it the serious consideration and financial support that it deserves. The LFO is one of the financial supporters of the one-day outreach program.
"We are very proud of the Faculty of Law's current outreach initiatives to Aboriginal communities. We have seen how integral Aboriginal students, lawyers and professionals are to the broader pursuit of justice for Aboriginal communities," she says. "With the proper social, financial and academic supports in place, there is no limit to what Aboriginal students can achieve in law and related fields."
