Future Akitsiraq law grads get first look at campus

Siobhan Arnatsiaq-Murphy, Akitsiraq law student and skilled drum dancer, at a welcome ceremony for the students at Mungo Martin House.

After nearly four years of classes in Iqaluit, Nunavut, studying for a UVic law degree, the inaugural class of the Akitsiraq law program has finally seen its Victoria campus.

Almost all of the Inuit students visited UVic in late January, meeting their "southern" classmates and taking advantage of the Priestly Law Library to conduct research. Half of the class is remaining on campus for the rest of the term.

The law program is the first of its kind in Canada. Through it, Inuit students—the future lawyers who will guide the development of their young territory—earn a UVic law degree in Nunavut's capital city of Iqaluit. Law professors from across the country have travelled to Iqaluit to teach in the program which is a partnership between UVic, the Akitsiraq Law School Society and Nunavut Arctic College.

Many of the students, some of them parents, are mid-career learners with varied life experiences. One of them, Madeleine Redfern, has already distinguished herself by being chosen to clerk with newly appointed Supreme Court of Canada Justice Louise Charron following graduation in June.

Support for the students' visit to UVic was provided by the Walter and Duncan Gordon Foundation.