At nine years old, Michelle O’Bonsawin told her parents that she was going to be a lawyer and they were shocked. There had never been a lawyer in the family. She held on to that ambition and, in high school, she told her guidance counselor the same thing. He suggested that she choose a different career path, telling her that becoming a lawyer was unlikely for a woman from a small French town in northern Ontario.
O’Bonsawin stood his ground.
“No, this is what I’m going to do. Look at me,” she said in a video posted on the University of OttawaO’Bonsawin’s alma mater.
On Friday, O’Bonsawin was appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. She will become the first indigenous woman to sit on the highest court in the country.
Education has always been key for members of the Odanak First Nation, a small community between Montreal and Québec City, says Chief Richard O’Bomsawin.
On Friday, when he learned that his cousin had been nominated for the Supreme Court, the boss was full of pride.
“For one of our members to reach that big milestone is just amazing,” he says.
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Prior to appointment, O’Bonsawin spent five years on the Ontario Supreme Court. O’Bonsawin is also coming off the defense of his law doctoral thesis, which he completed earlier this year at the University of Ottawa.
The thesis dealt with the application of the Gladue principles, which describe how judges consider the unique experiences of Indigenous Peoples and how they are affected by colonization and intergenerational trauma.
“He’s definitely the right person for the job,” says Chief O’Bomsawin.
At nine years old, Michelle O’Bonsawin told her parents that she was going to be a lawyer and they were shocked. There had never been a lawyer in the family. #Supreme Court
Growing up off the reservation in Hammer, Ontario, near Sudbury, O’Bonsawin identifies as bilingual Franco-Ontarian, according to a biography released by the Prime Minister’s Office.
in a required questionnaire published by the Department of Justice, O’Bonsawin wrote about being discriminated against and harassed for being a young indigenous woman who lived off the reservation, different from the Francophone community at large.
O’Bonsawin’s world as an indigenous person changed at the University of Ottawa. They didn’t laugh at his last name, but he recognized himself, and he became involved in indigenous cases after joining the Association of Indian Law Students, he writes.
“I have seen how the indigenous perspective can be different from the rest of the Canadian population, while recognizing that all of our unique perspectives are at the heart of our country,” writes O’Bonsawin.
Perspective is essential for advocates of indigenous representation in court, including former attorney and Truth and Reconciliation Commission chairman Murray Sinclair and Indian Bar Association president Drew Lafond.
“It’s very difficult to have confidence in the court’s ability to rule on those issues when there are no people on the court who have spent their lives working on indigenous laws, customs or traditions,” Lafond said. the canadian press. “Hopefully, with Michelle’s appointment, we can start to change that.”
O’Bonsawin is set to join the court on September 1, filling the vacancy left by Justice Michael Moldaver.
Still, there is some hesitation among critics about how much the appointment can change the broader view, particularly around constitutional change.
His appointment will bring a different perspective, perhaps not to change things, but to expand minds on the Supreme Court bench, Chief O’Bomsawin says.
It’s a thought echoed by First Nations policy analyst Russ Diabo.
O’Bonsawin’s appointment is a step, but not a broad historical moment, says Diabo. The court remains an institution of the Canadian state, which has important implications for Crown-indigenous relations.
Diabo points to Bill C-92, the purpose of which is to recognize indigenous jurisdiction over child welfare. Québec has challenged the bill, citing the federal government’s overreach in provincial jurisdiction.
The Québec court struck down sections 21 and 22(3) of the bill, which gave federal law the power to override provincial laws relating to services for children and families.
Bill C-92 will now address the Supreme Court of Canada after a federal government and Québec appeal.
The decision will have broad implications for Section 35 of the Constitution, which recognizes and affirms the treaty rights of Indigenous Peoples.
“I think [the Supreme Court] you will want it in that decision because it is an important decision around the inherent right to self-government,” says Diabo.
— With files from Marie Danielle-Smith
Matteo Cimellaro / Local Journalism Initiative / Canadian National Observer