About

The Wahkohtowin Law and Governance Lodge is a dedicated research unit based out of the University of Alberta. The Wahkohtowin Lodge’s objectives are to uphold Indigenous laws and governance by:

Supporting Indigenous communities’ goals to identify, articulate, and implement their own laws,
Developing, gathering, amplifying, and transferring wise practices, promising methods and research tools,
Producing useful and accessible public legal education resources.

The Wahkohtowin Lodge responds to the expressed needs of Indigenous communities and organizations and specifically answers the TRC Call to Action #50, which calls for the creation of Indigenous Law Institutes for the “development, use and understanding of Indigenous laws.”

wâhkôhtowin wiyasiwêwin êkwa paminisowin okihcitâwikamik anima ohci kapimâcihohk, mâmawinitowinihk, êkwa ita kawicêhsihcikêmitohk, kawîtatoskêmitocik University of Alberta, omisisi:

kasihtoskahkik iyiniw mâmawinitowina kâwîhisihcikêyit kakiskêyihtahkik, kâhisinitawêyihtahkik, êkwa kahapacihtâcik owiyasiwêwiniwâwa êkwaopaminisowin.
kâwiyastâcik, kamâmawastâcik, kasôhkastâcik, êkwa kahâsônamâkehkisihtwâwina, kêsimiyopayik, êkwa nanâtohk nitwâcihcikêwin âpacihcikana.
kahosihtâcik kêsimiyopayik êkwa takî-âpatahki paminisowin masinahikanaêkwa kahkiyaw awiyak ohci wiyasiwêwin kiskinohamâkosiwin.

Our History

In 2016, the late Aseniwuche Winewak Nation Elder and Healer, Adelaide McDonald, told Dr. Friedland it was time to start bringing university students up to the community to learn. The result was the Wahkohtowin course, a unique land-based intensive course co-taught by university instructors and a community teaching team, with a central pedagogy of home-tanning a moose-hide in the Aseniwuche Winewak community of Susa Creek. The course invites students to explore the Cree concept of Wahkohtowin, which translates approximately as our inter-relatedness and interdependence. The concept has been a central tenet of Cree law, governance, philosophy, and spirituality for centuries. First held in the summer of 2017, this important learning opportunity led to the eventual development of the Wahkohtowin Lodge.

The goal behind creating the Wahkohtowin Lodge was to establish a trusted and reliable CTA#50 Indigenous Law Institute, where Indigenous communities have the space to revitalize and rebuild their own laws. CTA#50 was modelled after the founding research project of the UVic Indigenous Law Research Unit [ILRU], which Koren Lightning (the Wahkohtowin Lodge Legal Director) initiated and oversaw as the then President of the Indigenous Bar Association, and Dr. Friedland co-led as the ILRU Co-Founder and Research Director.

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Our History

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Workshops and Courses

About

Our History