NATIONAL CENTRE FOR INDIGENOUS LAWS

The University of Victoria is planning and designing an expansion to the Fraser Building to house The National Centre for Indigenous Laws. The centre will provide academic and support space for the Canadian Common Law and Indigenous Legal Orders program (JD/JID) and Indigenous Legal Research Unit (ILRU). By expanding the Fraser Building, the university will enhance the experience and success of JD and JD/JID students, and will serve as a national centre for dialogue, research, and knowledge transfer.

In September 2018, the university launched the JD/JID program, with a 25-student cohort entering the four-year program. The JD/JID program is the first of its kind in Canada, is unique globally, and will further the university’s reputation by training legal professionals to work across Indigenous and non-Indigenous legal traditions. The Fraser Expansion will implement the Campus Plan directions and will support the university’s vision to increase the vibrancy of campus life by enhancing the natural and built environment to create more opportunities for interaction and collaboration.

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The university has been meeting and consulting with key community members including Elders, Hereditary Chiefs, knowledge keepers and the university. Through these conversations, the project planning team built guiding principles for the program and project. Further conversations in the design process have focused on how the design of the building can honour Indigenous society and the host peoples. This conceptual design of the building is informed by Coast Salish knowledge and stories.