Conference a tribute to Aboriginal Law alumna

On February 28 and March 1, Feminist Legal Studies Queen’s (FLSQ) will host a conference on “Arctic/Northern Women: Situating Law and Justice in Development and Equality.” This ground-breaking, interdisciplinary, and multinational event will bring to campus experts in Indigenous, northern, and Arctic issues from Finland, Sweden, Norway, the U.S., and Canada. Researchers, law practitioners, representatives of non-profits, and policy advocates will examine how their fast-evolving and intersecting fields are shaping contemporary Arctic/northern and Indigenous politics.

The topic is rooted in the law and policy goals of the FLSQ and the conference’s generous co-sponsor – the Tromso-Umea-Arkhangelsk-Queen’s Network on Gender and Law in the Arctic Region – and Queen’s collaborators, the Four Directions Aboriginal Student Centre, Faculty of Law, and Department of Gender Studies. Four Directions Aboriginal Advisor Vanessa McCourt says, “I hope attendees will come away from this conference with new knowledge and a resolve to continue the dialogue with others.”

Professor Kathleen Lahey, who is organizing the event with her FLSQ co-director Professor Bita Amani, says “The most important question we will be attempting to answer is how to ensure that women’s voices and experiences – especially those of Indigenous women – are brought into governance processes as laws, policies, budgets, financial resources, land use changes, and social issues are addressed during this period of rapid transformation.” Topics that will be discussed include “Governance and Voice: Indigenous Peoples, Women, Climate, and Corporations” and “Women and Economic Development: Roadmaps and Strategies.”

The first keynote speaker will be Eva-Maria Svensson, law professor at Gothenburg (Sweden) and Tromso (Norway) universities, visiting Queen’s as the Principal’s Development Fund International Visitor. She will address the lack of gender equality considerations that have become evident in the work of regional governance organizations, such as the Arctic Council, making it all the more difficult for women’s interests to be represented in this region.

Rauna Kuokkanen of the University of Toronto’s Department of Political Science and Aboriginal Studies Program will deliver the second keynote address, focussing on the impact of Arctic and northern development on Indigenous economies, self-determination, and women’s rights across the circumpolar region.

This year’s conference celebrates the memory of Dr. Patricia Monture, a distinguished First Nations professor at the University of Saskatchewan – both a Queen’s alumna (Law ’88) and an honorary graduate (LLD ’09). Monture was a nationally recognized and prominent advocate for Aboriginal communities until her death in 2010.

Lahey says the conference will pay tribute to Monture’s legacy by exploring the ways that intensifying interest in the Arctic is affecting Indigenous and northern populations. “The odds are particularly against Indigenous women now that some of the largest corporations and countries in the world are focusing attention on the Arctic’s resources,” Lahey says. “The interests of the people who live in this region are in great danger of being trivialized and swept aside.”

Professor Amani notes the conference program is rich in substance on a range of timely and important issues that will continue to define Canadian society, Arctic/northern and indigenous cultures, and relations, for years to come. The event will therefore appeal to a very broad audience and is an important part of the FLSQ tradition in celebrating International Women’s Day on March 8. The theme for IWD 2014 is Inspiring Change. And, like Dr. Patricia Monture to whom the event pays tribute, the organizers hope that this moment of contemplation and intellectual exchange will indeed inspire necessary and long overdue change.

Those interested in attending must register in advance with Melissa Howlett at melissa.howlett@queensu.ca. There is no registration fee for students, those with low income, or volunteers, with a minimum contribution of $10 toward event costs from those who can afford it.

For more information and to read the conference program, please visit https://femlaw.queensu.ca.