OUR TEAM

Staff

Our team comes to this work as a community of Indigenous and settler scholars, lawyers, professors, and researchers with diverse backgrounds and experience working with Indigenous communities. We are committed to building and maintaining the relationships we develop through our work to support the recovery, revitalization, and re-articulation of Indigenous laws.

Director: Dr. Val Napoleon

She/Her

Val Napoleon is from northeast British Columbia (Treaty 8) and a member of Saulteau First Nation. She is also an adopted member of the Gitanyow (Gitksan) House of Luuxhon, Ganada (Frog) Clan. As Director and co-founder of ILRU, Val is responsible for the vision and direction of ILRU, and bridging the work of ILRU with University of Victoria’s Faculty of Law and beyond through teaching, writing and public engagement. She is also a principal investigator on ILRU’s projects.

Val is also a research chair at the University of Victoria Faculty of Law. The title of Val’s research chair is Law Foundation Chair of Indigenous Justice and Governance. Prior to joining the Faculty of Law at UVic in 2012, Val was cross-appointed with the faculties of Native Studies and Law at the University of Alberta. Val’s current research focuses on Indigenous legal traditions (Indigenous legal theories, pedagogies, law and precedent, legal institutions, and legal research methodologies), Indigenous feminism, citizenship, self-determination, and governance. Some of her major initiatives include the JD/JID (joint JD and Indigenous law degree) program and co-founding the Indigenous Law Research Unit. She has also taught and published on aboriginal legal issues, Indigenous law and legal theories, Indigenous feminisms, governance, critical restorative justice, oral traditions, and Indigenous legal research methodologies. I also teach property law.

See Val’s full bio.

Associate Director: Dr. Darcy Lindberg

He/Him

Darcy Lindberg is mixed-rooted Plains Cree, with his family coming from maskwâcîs (Samson Cree Nation) in Alberta and the Battleford-area in Saskatchewan.

He holds a BA from the University of Alberta, and a JD, LLM and PhD from UVic. He has taught courses at the University of Alberta on constitutional law, Indigenous legal traditions, treaties, and Indigenous environmental legal orders. Darcy was called to the British Columbia and Yukon bars in 2014, and practiced in the Yukon Territory with Davis LLP.  His research focuses on nêhiyaw law, ecological governance through Indigenous legal orders, gender and Indigenous ceremonies, comparative approaches in nêhiyaw and Canadian constitutionalism, and Indigenous treaty making.

See Darcy’s full bio.

Research Director: Tara Williamson

She/Her/They/Them

Tara Williamson is a member of the Opaskwayak Cree Nation and was raised in Gaabishkigamaag (Swan Lake, Manitoba). She holds degrees in social work, law, and Indigenous governance and has been a professor and instructor at Fleming College, Trent University, Toronto Metropolitan University/First Nations Technical Institute and the University of Winnipeg. As an independent consultant, she has worked with and for Indigenous communities and organizations at the local, regional, provincial, and national level. Tara is a Research Fellow with the Yellowhead Institute as well as a professional writer and musician.

Coordinator: Brooke Edmonds

She/Her

Brooke Edmonds is of Te Whānau ā Apanui, Ngāti Porou, and mixed-European descent. She is from Aotearoa/New Zealand, and has spent the last 15 years in Kaska Dena and Tr’ondëk Hwëchin territories in the Yukon, and lək̓ʷəŋən Territory, where she graduated with honours from the University of Victoria in the field of Art History and Visual Studies. Brooke has worked within municipal government and with Indigenous communities, including the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in, with whom she co-coordinated Moosehide Gathering 2018 and continues relationships with today. In 2019 she joined ILRU as the Coordinator, where she works collaboratively with the ILRU team, community partners, and the UVic community to facilitate ILRU’s vision and goals as they relate to community-based research and public legal education projects. She is ILRU’s lead on outreach, communications and publications, and also facilitates workshops and presentations as part of ILRU’s projects and in the broader community.

Senior Researcher & Legal Designer: e Campbell

They/Them/Theirs

e Campbell is a settler with Scottish, Norse, French, English, and German ancestry living as an uninvited guest on MÁLEXEȽ and Quw’utsun territories. Ellen grew up on the shores of Zhooniya Zaagiigan (Lake Simcoe) and Chi’Nibiish (Lake Ontario), in Michi Saagiig territory, so-called Mission Creek in syilx territory, and Showe’luqun (Shawnigan Lake) in Quw’utsun and MÁLEXEȽ territories. e is an artist, researcher, and lawyer. They hold a law degree with a concentration in environmental law and sustainability, and a Master’s degree analyzing and criticizing colonialism in conservation and animal law enforcement by non-profits.

Their work at ILRU has focused on research on water laws; child and caregiver nurturance laws; curriculum development; workshop facilitation; and legal design focusing on upholding the role of art in law. They are a member and volunteer with the Cowichan Stewardship Roundtable, Radical Action for Migrants in Agriculture Isla, and the National American Association for Critical Animal Studies, among others.

Researcher: Shannon Snow

She/Her/They/Them

Shannon is of mixed background, belonging to Inuit families spanning from upper Lake Melville to the central coast of Labrador (St. Michael’s Bay). They are a member of the NunatuKavut community in Labrador, and was raised in St. John’s, Newfoundland (Ktaqmkuk). She is also of Scottish and English ancestry.

Shannon holds common law (J.D.) and civil law (B.C.L) degrees from McGill University, where they focused their studies on indigenous legal traditions and revitalization. Prior to working with ILRU, Shannon practiced state environmental and organizational law at a firm in Tiohtià:ke (Montréal). Shannon has also mobilized around housing and language rights in the communities in which she’s lived. They newly live as a guest in lək̓ʷəŋən territory.

Law Student Researcher: Summer Tyance

She/Her/They/Them

Summer Tyance is an Anishinaabekwe with Ukrainian ancestry, from Kiashke Zaaging Anishinaabek (Gull Bay First Nation) located in Northwestern Ontario. She is a graduate from The University of British Columbia majoring in First Nations and Indigenous Studies and Political Science. Some key research areas of interest being Indigenous Legal Traditions, Self-determination, Intersectionality, Oral Tradition, and Indigenous Governance. Summer will be going into 3L in Fall 2025 in the Joint Degree Program in Canadian Common Law and Indigenous Legal Orders (JD/JID) at The University of Victoria.

Her work experience extends to having engaged with various organizations such as The Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre, The Canadian Women’s Foundation, The Institute for Critical Indigenous Studies, and West Coast Environmental Law. She prioritizes safety, transparency, and respect, as core values to her work and personal life. Obtaining justice for Indigenous peoples in a good way, being one significant career goal.

Outside of work and school, other passions include art, poetry, podcasting, traditional hand-drumming, and fancy shawl dancing. She also enjoys being out on the land as much as possible, partaking in swimming, hiking, canoeing, and fishing.