Centre Academic Director Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, Aki-Kwe, has been awarded the 2021 Ellen Meiksins Wood Prize by the Broadbent Institute. This award honours Aki-Kwe’s work and contributions as a lawyer, judge and youth advocate.
The Wood Prize is awarded annually by the Broadbent Institute’s Board of Directors to recognize the outstanding contributions of an academic, labour activist or writer, in honour of Ellen Meiksins Wood. Ellen was an internationally renowned scholar and political theorist who passed away in 2016. The award honours her legacy and includes a $10,000 prize, which Aki-Kwe is donating to the Indigenous grassroots initiative, Save Rez Dogs. Aki-Kwe will also deliver the annual Ellen Meiksins Wood lecture in the fall of 2021 as part of the award.
Aki-Kwe is known for her work as BC’s first Representative for Children and Youth. She has been a tireless advocate for children and youth in her positions as a lawyer and a judge. As a professor at the Peter Allard School of Law at UBC she works to advance Indigenous rights and educate future lawyers. As the inaugural Director of the Centre she has worked to establish relationships with communities across BC and Canada, create safe spaces to have dialogues about the legacy of residential schools, and educate the public on issues such as the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).
Aki-Kwe holds a Doctorate in Law from Harvard Law School, a master’s in international law from Cambridge University, and a J.D. law degree from York University’s Osgoode Hall. She is a member of the Indigenous Bar as well as the Law Societies of British Columbia, Nova Scotia, and Saskatchewan. She continues to practice law and has worked with provincial and national governments and organizations on issues related to human rights for Indigenous Peoples.
“Mary Ellen’s outstanding contribution to Canada as a judge, as an academic, and as an activist, particularly her activism on behalf of the rights of children and the rights of Indigenous Peoples has made possible a life of dignity for many who would otherwise have suffered greatly,” says Broadbent Institute Chair and Founder, Ed Broadbent.
“Her current work as the inaugural Academic Director of the Residential School History and Dialogue Centre at the University of British Columbia, as well as that on the implementation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in the province of British Columbia, are further evidence of her exemplary leadership. The Institute is proud to award this prize to Mary Ellen.”
For more information on Ellen Meiksins Wood Prize and Lecture, and to view the full press release, visit the Broadbent Institute website.
