A free Brock University community symposium will discuss the impact of criminalization on Indigenous communities.

Hosted by the Decolonization Working Group of Brock’s President’s Advisory Committee on Human Rights, Equity and Decolonization (PACHRED), the event takes place Wednesday, March 20 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Pond Inlet.

Indigenous scholar and lawyer Beverly Jacobs, Senior Advisor to the President on Indigenous Relations and Outreach at University of Windsor, will present the symposium keynote.

Jacobs, whose research focuses on Indigenous legal orders, Indigenous holistic health and Indigenous research methodologies, lives and practices law part time at her home community of Six Nations of the Grand River Territory in southern Ontario.

Lyn Trudeau, Lecturer for Sociology as well as Women’s and Gender Studies at Brock, said Jacobs’ perspectives on decolonization of Eurocentric law will be “incredibly valuable” to community members and institutions seeking to engage in equity, diversity and inclusion dialogue and collaboration.

Jacobs will be joined by guest speakers exploring topics such as the interdisciplinary focus on structural powers of oppression and anti-racism, Two Spirit perspectives, ways of storytelling and activism, Indigenous justice supports and Gladue, a type of pre-sentencing and bail hearing report that a Canadian court can request when considering sentencing an offender of Indigenous background.

Symposium speakers include:

• Megan Scribe — Assistant Professor of Sociology, Toronto Metropolitan University
• Seán Kinsella — Speaker, storyteller and poet
• Layla Staats — Film maker and activist
• Jessica Riel — Indigenous community justice support worker
• Edna Campos — Indigenous justice support worker with expertise on Gladue Report

By bringing together speakers with diverse experiences and backgrounds, the symposium offers participants an opportunity to explore the issues of “Indigenous de/criminalization” from many perspectives.

“Criminalization has many visible and invisible ripple effects including victimization, mis/representation and nonrepresentation. Therefore, we feel it is also necessary to make space for our artists and performers within the symposium to bring in the richness, strength of spirit and joy of our nations throughout the day.” says Trudeau, who is Co-chair of PACHRED’s Decolonization Working Group alongside Hadiya’dagénhahs First Nations, Métis and Inuit Student Centre Event Co-ordinator Willow Shawanoo-Kechego.

For more information or to register, visit Eventbrite.

This event is generously sponsored by PACHRED, PACHRED’s 2S&LGBTQ+ Working Group, PACHRED’s Employment Equity Working Group, the Faculty of Social Sciences, the Faculty of Education’s Indigenous Educational Studies Programs, and the Student Justice Centre.