To the editor:?
Teaching understanding of Indig-enous views in a law school? A course designed or edited by mainstream lawyers would probably be more for Indigenous manipulation which is the opposite of Indigenous justice which might be an objective of a course designed by Indigenous people.
Either way, the objective of the establishment would more likely be to placate rather than to seek true understanding for true justice.
The overwhelming objective of lawyers is to get desired results, usually for the more powerful client who has more resources at their disposal. Knowledge of Indigenous issues and sensibilities may affect strategies and tactics, but would not often influence justice because when a conflict is between those with power who wish to take something from Indigenous people, the lawyer doing the work could not consider justice in the equation or he/she would not keep their job for too long.
For conflicts between Aboriginal people, better understanding would more likely come from learning from the source i.e. an Indigenous person, not from some lawyer attempting to show how to act compassionately.
In my opinion it would be better for the Indigenous communities to promote and support the development of talented dedicated lawyers to defend what they already have in terms of previous agreements and in crafting new agreements.
Matthias Rom,
Thunder?Bay
