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By Sam VanSchie
Napoleon
Val Napoleon made many firsts while completing her PhD in Law and Society at UVic.
To begin with, she’s the first graduate of the new PhD program offered through the Faculty of Law. Her dissertation focused on a substantive and theoretical treatment of the legal traditions of a northern BC Indigenous people, the Gitksan, one of the plaintiff groups in the seminal Aboriginal title case, Delgamuuk’w. Napoleon also defended her dissertation in Gitwangak, one of the Gitksan communities. This was another first with the Faculty of Law.
“I was able to talk about Gitksan law in Gitksan territory to Gitksan people,” Napoleon explains. That’s a lot more intimidating than the classroom with a panel of professors that most PhD candidates see.
But Napoleon has never been one to follow the path of least resistance.
When she began her studies of law at UVic, she was already a grandmother. She earned her LLB in 2001.
“I chose UVic because it has a smaller law school and a real commitment to diversity in its intake of new students,” says Napoleon, who is of Cree, Saulteaux and Dunne’za heritage. She was living in Gitksan territory prior to beginning at UVic.
Through the course of her studies she found that she was less interested in the actual practice of law and more interested in legal theory and legal reasoning processes than in legal doctrines.
“I see law as a way to understand the world; it offers us a lot beyond just preparation to be a lawyer,” Napoleon explains.
So in 2005 she began teaching in the Faculty of Law and the Faculty of Native Studies, where she is cross-appointed at the University of Alberta. Napoleon continues her research and work on Indigenous legal traditions and issues.
Still, she stayed with UVic for her PhD.
“All the people at UVic were really terrific, which is why I continued my studies here,” Napoleon said. “Everybody has been so wonderful to me.”
Napoleon will convocate with the class of 2009.
Later in the summer she’ll join two other Indigenous law professors to co-teach a 300-level pilot course at UVic (yes, another first).
Napoleon’s contribution to the course will draw from her thesis research on the Gitksan law and legal theory.
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