Welcome UBC Law Class of 2016,
First, congratulations on being accepted into Law School, this really is a significant accomplishment onto itself. UBC has a great program with a very active and engaged student body.
The Indigenous Law Students’ Association is one of the many opportunities for you to get more from your time at Allard Hall. Our association is open to all members of law school and is focussed on providing opportunities to learn about indigenous laws and traditions, First Nation, Metis, and Inuit culture, and provide social activities for members in our group.
Last year our executive was very busy with a very engaged speaker series on issues like sentencing for aboriginals, resource development on First Nation lands, careers in Aboriginal Law, and even a discussion on the Idle No More movement.
Our members attended the annual Indigenous Bar Association conference in Winnipeg, as well as the University of Victoria annual community conference. Both of these included a variety of speakers on topics dealing with land claims, indigenous rights, water rights, legal orders and traditions, along with providing various networking opportunities with individuals and firms in the community.
Our social committee put on a wide variety of events last year that included getting teams involved in the UBC longboat race, trike race, putting on pub nights, the ugly sweater Christmas party, an art crawl, and a couple of movie nights for everyone to gather and blow off some of the law school stress.
The highlight of our year is the Indigenous Awareness Week, which was sponsored last year by Fasken Martineau, Mandell Pinder, and Alliance Pipeline. The activities from this last year included an annual BBQ, a movie, speakers (former BC Lt. Gov Stephen Point and Jean Barnum), dance and musical performances by a variety of First Nation and Metis groups and of course the famous Indian Taco Day.
If you want to learn more about the association and see what our members have been doing you can go to our website at http://ubcindigenouslaw.com/ or email us at ilsa.ubc@gmail.com.
We hope you have a great rest of your summer and look forward to meeting you in September.
The Indigenous Law Students’ Association Executive