Val Napoleon inducted into Royal Society of Canada College of New Scholars

Val Napoleon, one of Canada's most influential Indigenous scholars, was inducted into the Royal Society of Canada's College of New Scholars on November 24, 2017. At the Celebration of Excellence in Winnipeg, Manitoba, a ceremony officially welcomed new members to the College.

Val Napoleon holds the Law Foundation Chair of Aboriginal Justice and Governance at UVic. She is the founder of the university’s Indigenous Law Research Unit (ILRU), which is committed to the recovery and renaissance of Indigenous laws and the only dedicated unit of its kind in the country.

The ILRU has worked with more than 40 First Nations communities to apply their own laws to specific issues within their communities, a process driven by community members, Elders and knowledge-keepers. She and faculty colleague John Borrows, the Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Law, are working to establish UVic as the first Canadian university to offer a joint degree in Canadian common law and Indigenous law.

Napoleon is from northeast British Columbia (Treaty 8) and a member of Saulteau First Nation. She’s an adopted member of the Gitanyow (Gitksan) House of Luuxhon, Ganada (Frog) Clan. Her current research focuses on Indigenous legal traditions, Indigenous feminism, citizenship, self-determination and governance.

Val is one of three scholars from the University of Victoria to be inducted into the Royal Society College of New Scholars this year, along with Charlotte Loppie and Julia Baum.

More information on all three inductees can be found here.