RESEARCHER -INDIGENOUS LAW RESEARCH UNIT
ABOUT THE OPPORTUNITY
Housed at the University of Victoria’s Faculty of Law, the Indigenous Law Research Unit (ILRU) is dedicated to the revitalization of Indigenous laws and governance. Our vision is for Indigenous laws to be used, researched, taught, and theorized about—just as the other great legal traditions of the world are today. We see the revitalization of Indigenous law and governance as necessary to re-build deliberative democracy and respectful relations in and across communities, societies, and legal orders in Canada and around the world.
Centering relationships in our practice, we work collaboratively with Indigenous communities, on their terms, to engage with, articulate, and implement Indigenous laws. We develop and use innovative and diverse research methods, and are transparent and rigorous in our work, so that Indigenous laws can be accessed, understood, and applied today. Our work spans a broad scope of legal questions, such as water, child welfare, dispute resolution, citizenship, and justice, and we involve a diversity of Indigenous legal traditions in our practice. We foster broad and critical engagement with Indigenous democracy, and citizenship. We provide presentations and training to a range of audiences seeking to engage with Indigenous law and legal research.
We are committed to justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion in both our hiring practices and work environment. We are committed to building and maintaining an employment environment that is welcoming to people who bring other ways of seeing, knowing, and communicating the mandate of our work. Our team is a mix of Indigenous and non-Indigenous academics, legal professionals, researchers, and students, all committed to working co-operatively to fulfill ILRU’s vision.
Our priority is to hire a person who identifies as Indigenous with a community affiliation for this position. We encourage individuals from diverse communities to apply, including women, non-binary people, Black people, people of colour, and 2SLGBTTQQIPA+ individuals.
ABOUT THE ROLE (IS THIS YOU?)
This is a full-time, one-year contract position (with the possibility of extension) to work alongside the entire ILRU team on a variety of ILRU projects in a collaborative, dynamic environment.
As an ILRU Researcher, you play an integral role in all aspects of ILRU’s work. In your position, you develop the resources that support the ongoing work of revitalizing Indigenous law and governance in a contemporary Indigenous community context.
Do you excel at and enjoy research and writing, and communicating big ideas in a way that is accessible to a wide audience?
You can think critically, analytically, and creatively and are highly skilled at legal research, writing, and editing. You are curious about and willing to engage with a wide range of legal issues and questions in different Indigenous legal orders and using different methods and methodologies. You can express complex ideas using clear communication to engage with diverse audiences, based on demonstrated intercultural knowledge and understanding, and your own experience. You can develop diverse materials that support broad, critical engagement with Indigenous laws.
Do you enjoy working collaboratively with a team and have the ethics and interpersonal skills required to be accountable to colleagues, communities, and the work?
You engage rigorously and systematically with research materials in conversation with the team and community members. You nurture the day-to-day relationships that ILRU has with its Indigenous community partners through respectful and serious conversations about Indigenous laws. You communicate clearly with community members, professionals, students, funders, and governments about different aspects of ILRU’s project work. You can build and foster accountable relationships based on trust and reliability, and you enter conversations with others as both a learner and as a professional. You are highly organized and you can prioritize your work to meet deadlines.
Do you enjoy working in community and with a range of legal issues and questions?
You enjoy traveling to communities and engaging with a diversity of people about Indigenous law. You are curious and keen to learn new things from people and place. You are flexible and responsive, and can adapt to changing circumstances. You feel comfortable presenting and co-facilitating workshops in community, academic and public settings.
Are you committed to social justice and lifelong learning?
Your work is grounded in a solid knowledge of, and commitment to social justice and decolonization. You have passion as it pertains to identifying and challenging colonial, institutional, and structural oppression, such as racism, sexism, homophobia, and transphobia.
You are committed to self-reflection and lifelong learning, which includes the ability to both provide and receive supportive, constructive, and critical feedback. You can meet the ethical, legal, and trauma-informed standards and practices necessary to fulfill ILRU’s mandate.
RESPONSIBILITIES
Please note: We acknowledge the list of responsibilities may seem daunting for potential candidates. We encourage applicants who, while not able to take on all these responsibilities from day one, can demonstrate they have the potential to grow into them. We commit to creating an environment that will support such growth.
ILRU PROJECT RESEARCH
Critically engage with methods and methodologies relating to Indigenous legal research, with a particular focus on story-based, linguistic, and embedded learning methods.
Conduct rigorous research on a range of legal issues from different Indigenous legal traditions.
Analyze and synthesize primary and secondary research.
Collaboratively co-write Indigenous law reports and other publications.
Co-facilitate focus group conversations, individual interviews, and workshops in community—in person and in online settings.
Maintain research in accordance with best practices of data management, including confidentiality, data sovereignty, accessibility, and community standards.
PUBLIC LEGAL EDUCATION
Co-facilitate workshops and presentations on Indigenous laws in public, professional, academic, and community settings.
Co-develop accessible and engaging public legal education materials on Indigenous laws or critical Indigenous legal issues.
SKILLS, QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCES
REQUIRED
JD/JID, JD, or LLB
Self-identification as Indigenous with a community affiliation
PREFERRED
Previous lived or work experience engaging with Indigenous knowledges and/or methodologies and methods.
Personal commitment to identifying and challenging colonialism and institutional and structural oppression, as well as commitment to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion.
Excellent legal research, writing, editing, verbal communication, and critical thinking skills, with the ability to communicate complex ideas in accessible ways.
Previous experience preparing and writing documents such as papers and reports self-directed and collaboratively.
Previous lived or work experience building positive working relationships in Indigenous communities or with Indigenous people.
Previous lived or work experience engaging with Indigenous knowledges and/or methodologies and methods.
Relationship-building and interpersonal skills, with comfort navigating difficult conversations and new learning.
DESIRED
Developing research questions, research agreements, budgets, deadlines, and work plans.
Working with Indigenous elders, knowledge holders, organizations, and Indigenous governments, including traditional governance structures.
Previous work experience in a legal, case management, and/or academic setting.
Training or experience in Indigenous legal methodologies and methods.
Interviewing or facilitating conversations, particularly in Indigenous communities.
Engaging with research methods and critical frameworks from different disciplines.
Teaching, facilitation, or public speaking.
Developing and/or delivering curricular materials.
Supervising students.
TRAVEL
As a result of the nature of the duties and responsibilities of this position, occasional evening and weekend work may be required.
Availability and enthusiasm to travel (may include air, ferry, or car) is essential to this job.
COMPENSATION
This is a one-year, full-time, contract position. The position is 35 hours per week, with a yearly salary range of $80,000–$95,000 per year, subject to experience.
HOW TO APPLY
Submit your application, including a cover letter (maximum 2 pages) and resume or CV, with the subject line “Application for ILRU Researcher” to ilru@uvic.ca by 12 PM PST, Monday, May 1, 2023. Be clear in your cover letter about how you are a good fit for the position being advertised. Only those candidates who are short-listed will be contacted.
If the position is not filled by the deadline, the call for applications will remain open until a candidate is chosen.
If you have further questions about the position, please contact Brooke Edmonds at ilru@uvic.ca with the subject line “ILRU Researcher Posting”. Please do not call us.
MAKING AN IMPACT
Ggala-iətko (Nadia Joe), Community Coordinator
“As our Nations and communities work to implement Indigenous water laws, we are continually balancing how to both protect and express the sacred songs, prayers and stories that inform our laws and governance. Our partnership with ILRU helped create the necessary protections for sacred knowledge while also creating safe and ethical spaces for our knowledge keepers to share knowledge. The ILRU team made it clear from the outset that our knowledge keepers were the experts in the laws of the lands and the focus of their support was simply ensuring that our Indigenous Nations are left to do the most critical work that only we can do: the work of restoring and re- storying the lands and waters with our songs, ceremonies, prayers and stories.”
Janine Theobald, Workshop Participant
“The ILRU team came to the Home in the City workshop sincerely listening, and with an open-hearted acceptance of those in the room. There was receptivity, equity and reciprocity present that made the sessions a truly collaborative experience. The concepts demonstrated during the two-day workshop were done so in an organic, paced and adaptive manner that left this participant feeling like a partner in the process. It was humbling, rewarding and deeply appreciated.”