The Native Law Centre at the University of Saskatchewan was founded in 1975 by Dr. Roger C. Carter whose commitment to Aboriginal and social justice issues convinced the University of the need for a Centre to facilitate access to legal education for Aboriginal peoples, to promote the development of the law and the legal system in Canada in ways which better accommodate the advancement of Aboriginal peoples and communities, and to disseminate information concerning Aboriginal peoples and the law. Structured initially as an independent special project within the University of Saskatchewan, the Centre became a department of the College of Law in 1984.
From the beginning, the Centre has nurtured innovation in its program areas of teaching, research, and publication. Today, the NLC continues to build upon that history and remains attentive to the challenges confronted by Aboriginal peoples in Canada and internationally, so that we may continue to provide programs, strategies, and solutions that are not only sound in scholarship but practical and visionary in their application, and which will ensure that the rights of Aboriginal peoples are protected under the law.
The objectives of the Centre are, in specific, to
|provide and promote access to high quality legal education for Aboriginal people throughout Canada, and to provide a positive example of Aboriginal legal education internationally;|
|undertake and promote legal research and interdisciplinary legal research of Aboriginal or Indigenous matters, nationally and internationally;|
|publish legal reference and scholarly materials that reflect a wide range of Aboriginal legal and interdisciplinary legal subjects;|
|serve as a specialist resource on Aboriginal legal issues; and|
|foster national and international relationships and collaboration for mutual enrichment and for joint work on Indigenous issues.|
The Native Law Centre is supported by the Law Foundations of Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, and Northwest Territories.