Club objectives
- Provide a social and support network for Indigenous Students at the Faculty of Law;
- Create professional networks and provide opportunities for Indigenous students and other students interested in practicing in the area of Indigenous and Aboriginal Law;
- Advocate for the inclusion of Indigenous laws in the curriculum, programming and in resources at the Bora Laskin Library at the Faculty of Law; and
- Raise awareness of legal issues that impact Indigenous people among students at the Faculty of Law and in the broader legal community.
Activities and Opportunities
Yearly activities and opportunities include:
Informal social and cultural outings
Organizing a Fall Feast/ potluck at the school
Hearing from invited speakers and practitioners in the field of Aboriginal law
Attending and hosting conferences relating to Indigenous peoples and the law
Providing input to Faculty on courses and programming
ILSA also works closely with the Indigenous Law Journal at the Faculty of Law and is a point of contact for the larger Indigenous community and services provided in Toronto.
Contact Information
For more information about the ILSA, or about student life and activities as an Indigenous law student in the Faculty of Law at the University of Toronto, please contact utoronto.ilsa@gmail.com
For information about applying to the Faculty of Law as an Indigenous student, please contact Manager, Indigenous Initiatives at iio.law@utoronto.ca
Alumni of the Indigenous Law Students Association (ILSA) celebrate convocation in June 2019. (L-R: Jeremie Lachance, Wanakia Dunn, Amanda Carling (JD 2012 & Manager, Indigenous Initiatives), Joshua Favel and Natalie Day)
Student Volunteer Opportunity with Aboriginal Legal Services
Aboriginal Legal Services (formerly Aboriginal Legal Services of Toronto or ALST) is always on the lookout for volunteers for their Community Council Program, which is a unique criminal diversion program for people of Indigenous descent in Toronto. Please see below for a program description. This could be a great volunteer opportunity for Indigenous folks interested in restorative justice and giving back to the community.
Community Council Program
The Community Council Program is a criminal diversion program for Indigenous adults and youth who live in Toronto and are interacting with the criminal justice system. The program diverts accused Indigenous community members out of the criminal justice system and provides an opportunity for them to be heard before members of the Indigenous community in the GTA.
The focus of the Community Council is a collaborative, restorative, and reintegrative process through which Community Council Members, who sit at Council hearings, work with a subject community member at developing a plan by consensus. This process can assist the community member who is subject to the justice system to take responsibility for their actions, address the root causes of the problem, and reintegrate them into the community in a positive way.
The concept of the Community Council is not new, it is one way justice has been achieved in Indigenous communities in Central and Eastern Canada for centuries before the arrival of Europeans to North America. It is also the way that disputes continue to be informally resolved in many reserve communities across the country. This is the first project in Canada to apply these principles in an urban setting.
Volunteering to be a Community Council Member
Council Members represent a diverse cross-section of people of Indigenous heritage from across Canada. As a Council Member, duties include attending mandatory training and to sitting at hearings, usually once a month.
For information on the process for applying to be a Community Council member, please click here. Aboriginal Legal Services accepts applications on a rolling basis.
Additional questions can be answered by Colette McCombs, Community Council Program Manager at colette@aboriginallegal.ca. Applications are also submitted to Colette.
