INDIGENOUS
PEOPLES
Funded by the Law Foundation of Ontario Access to Justice Fund, the Indigenous Human Rights Program is a partnership between PBSC and the Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres (OFIFC). The purpose of the program is to combat anti-Indigenous racism and discrimination by working with Friendship Centres to build knowledge about human rights amongst urban Indigenous communities, and to empower individuals to make decisions about their rights. We do this through free human rights legal clinics located directly within Friendship Centres in Ontario, and the PBSC Indigenous Human Rights Podcast.
A first of its kind in Canada, the program is led by an Advisory Council and two Elders. It is supported by partners the Canadian Human Rights Commission, the Ontario Human Rights Commission, the Human Rights Legal Support Centre, and McCarthy Tétrault, and by the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law, the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, and Osgoode Hall Law School.
The Indigenous Human Rights Program would not be possible without the generous support of its funders. In 2019, PBSC won the American College of Trial Lawyers' prestigious Emil Gumpert Award. These funds acted as seed money to develop the program and tackle an unexpected but necessary pivot to virtual legal services when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020.
Today, the Indigenous Human Rights Program is generously funded by the Law Foundation of Ontario Access to Justice Fund.
URBAN
In Ontario, 85.5% of First Nation, Métis, and Inuit people live in urban or rural areas.
RACISM
In one study, 77.6% of respondents reported that racism against Indigenous people by non-Indigenous people is a problem in cities.
CULTURAL COMPETENCY
In order to advance the process of Canadian reconciliation, the TRC calls on lawyers and law students to be trained in inter-cultural competency, conflict resolution, human rights, and anti-racism.
Photo by Fallon Benson for PBSC National
PODCAST
The Indigenous Human Rights podcast is produced by Pro Bono Students Canada's Indigenous Human Rights Program. We're a group of law students shining a light on the experiences of Indigenous people at human rights tribunals across Canada. Listen and learn what it's really like to fight for your rights in the colonial legal system. Our podcast is sponsored by Thomson Reuters, PBSC's National Research Partner.
EPISODE 3 Gladys Radek: She was followed by a mall security guard. Then she proved systemic discrimination
In our third episode, we speak with Gladys Radek, a long-time advocate for Indigenous women and girls. In 2001, Gladys was grabbing a coffee at a mall when a security guard demanded to know where she was going. Gladys filed a complaint with the BC Human Rights Tribunal and the Tribunal agreed that Gladys' treatment was part of a larger pattern of systemic discrimination at the mall. In our far-reaching conversation, we talk to Gladys about standing up for human rights.
FUNDERS
Seed funder
PARTNERS
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ART BY MO THUNDER
Mo Thunder (They/Them/Theirs) is Onkwehonwe [Onyota’a:ka with family ties to Oneida Nation of the Thames x Aamjiwnaang First Nation] and French-Canadian. They’re a non-binary, neuroemergent artist x visual storyteller from a small town along the St. Clair River and are currently based on One Dish One Spoon Territory x Tkaronto (Toronto), which is a Kanyen'kéha: (Mohawk) word for ‘where there are trees standing in the water’.
