Laurier Legacy Project welcomes visiting Indigenous scholar Justice Gethin Edward

Jan. 26, 2024

Justice Gethin Edward, a member of the Ontario Court of Justice in Brantford who led the creation of Brantford’s Indigenous Persons Court, has joined Wilfrid Laurier University as a visiting Indigenous scholar as part of the Laurier Legacy public history initiative.

Justice Edward joins postdoctoral fellows Tedla Desta and Katelyn Arac, who have been examining the university’s namesake and institutional history for the Laurier Legacy Project since fall 2022. He will bring a crucial Indigenous and decolonizing lens to this work.

A lawyer in Brantford for 14 years before being appointed to the Ontario Court of Justice in 1996, Edward holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Waterloo and a law degree from Western University. He was instrumental in the establishment of a Gladue court in Brantford, which is a type of court designed to handle cases involving Indigenous offenders, and where offenders are sentenced based on principles of restorative justice.

“I am thrilled to welcome Justice Edward to the Laurier Legacy Project,” says Darren Thomas, Laurier’s associate vice president: Indigenous initiatives. “As we strive to revisit and reassess our national and institutional narratives, we have a great deal to learn from Justice Edward’s work to decolonize Canada’s legal system.”

As part of his public education mandate as a visiting scholar, Justice Edward will offer three lectures that will explore his decolonization of the legal system. All three lectures will take place in room RCE004 on Laurier’s Brantford campus as part of existing winter 2024 term courses, and will be webcast live via Zoom. Members of the Laurier and broader communities are welcome to attend in person or virtually.

• Tuesday, Feb. 13, 1-2:30 p.m. Topic: McMaster Children’s Hospital/ R. v. Skylar Williams as applications of Indigenous law
  Zoom registration for Feb. 13

• Tuesday, Feb. 27, 7-8:30 p.m. Topic: The Indigenous Persons Court in the Ontario Court of Justice in Brantford as a process of addressing the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in R. vs. Gladue
  Zoom registration for Feb. 27

• Tuesday, March 5, 4-5:20 p.m. Topic: Future litigation of Indigenous sovereignty rights
  Zoom registration for March 5

The lecture series will contribute to the Laurier Legacy Project’s goal of leading public engagement on institutional history within the Laurier and broader communities. To date, the Project has hosted a fireside chat and a symposium called “Institutional Histories: Reckoning with the Past – Reimagining the Future.” Guest lecture opportunities with Desta and Arac are available throughout the winter term.

About the Laurier Legacy Project

The Laurier Legacy Project is a multi-faceted public history initiative that explores the times and legacy of Sir Wilfrid Laurier. The university’s namesake and former Canadian Prime Minister was a political leader acknowledged as a nation-builder whose policy decisions related to immigration and relations with Indigenous peoples resulted in a complex legacy. The Laurier Legacy Project is a scholarly examination of Laurier’s life and times that aims to create a better understanding of his legacy, and the ways that the past continues to influence the present day, through public education.

The Laurier Legacy Project is sponsored by the Office of the Provost and undertaken in collaboration with the Office of the Associate Vice-President: Equity, Diversity and Inclusion and the Office of Indigenous Initiatives.