Dr. Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, Aki-Kwe, has served as the Academic Director of the Residential School History and Dialogue Centre since its inception in 2018. Her appointment has been extended for a second term, commencing June 1, 2021.
A tenured full Professor of Law at the Allard School of Law at UBC, Dr. Turpel-Lafond is a Canadian lawyer, former judge, legislative advocate for children’s rights and Senior Associate Counsel at Woodward and Company, one of Canada’s leading Indigenous rights law firms. She has worked to establish the Centre as a leading institution for culturally informed, reciprocal, community-led research, education and dialogues in partnership with Indigenous communities, Survivors and the University. Dr. Turpel-Lafond and leadership at the IRSHDC have ensured the Centre works in service to Indigenous communities and peoples of Canada.
Through this reappointment, Dr. Turpel-Lafond will continue to lead in strengthening the Centre’s relationships with partners and communities, with the aim of bolstering a national archival network to support Survivor and community access to records.
Since 2018, the Centre has been a leader in facilitating meaningful and critical dialogue, under the guidance of Turpel-Lafond. The Centre hosted dialogue series on both Indigenous data, information and records, and on the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Widely reviewed discussion papers, dialogue reports and summaries accompanied dialogue events, contributing significantly to public discourse on these critical topics.
Dr. Turpel-Lafond worked closely with the BC government on their implementation of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA), and in 2020 she was appointed as an independent investigator to lead an inquiry into allegations of racism in BC’s health care system, and continues to advocate for the human rights of Indigenous Peoples in Canada.
As a member of the Muskeg Lake Cree Nation, she was the first Treaty Indian to be named to the judicial bench in Saskatchewan, where she served for 20 years. She served as BC’s first Representative for Children and Youth for BC from 2006 to 2016 where she advocated for the human rights of children, for more than 17,000 children, youth and families in all parts of the province and across Canada.
Congratulations to Dr. Turpel-Lafond!
View the full announcement from Andrew Szeri, Provost and Vice-President Academic, UBC Vancouver.
