Wahkohtowin in Action

Abstract

From a Canadian legal standpoint, a common concern expressed about Indigenous law is that it is difficult to track down. As Hadley Friedland summarizes, “even people who want to engage more deeply with Indigenous legal traditions struggle to understand how to do so.” In response, Friedland has proposed a case law method that allows Indigenous communities and legal practitioners to access Indigenous law. I believe the case law method can be valuable, but I hope to provide an illustration of the operation of Indigenous law by looking at how the Cree/Metis principle of wahkohtowin was infused through the work of the Maskwacîs Education Schools Commission (MESC). My work here does not attempt to describe in full how wahkohtowin operates as a legal principle within Maskwacîs. Rather, I focus on the central role wahkohtowin played in the largest institutional transformation the community has ever undertaken.