'Expanding the legal imagination': New $46-million Indigenous law school building wing opens in B.C.

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“It creates a space rooted in Indigenous traditions where students can learn and grow, preparing them to lead in a justice system that reflects trauma-informed practice and the diversity of our province. By bringing Indigenous legal traditions into our justice system, we’re helping future lawyers build the skills and understanding they need to meaningfully support all communities they serve,” continued Sunner.

“Expanding the legal imagination and rule of law; students are receiving a legal education like no other”

Val Napoleon, Law Foundation chair in Indigenous Justice and Governance and a pioneering scholar in the field, said the building provides support for revitalizing systems that long predate colonial law.

This includes reclaiming jurisdiction and governance using a new process that gathers and interprets oral histories, stories, and teachings that inform Indigenous laws, and then applies them in contemporary contexts.

“Indigenous Law will make Canada a better place by strengthening civil society, democracy, and expanding the legal imagination and rule of law,” said Napoleon.

“This physical structure is a space where our laws, which enable us to be peoples, may be explored, taught and argued by Indigenous and non-Indigenous learners. Students are receiving a legal education like no other — they are critically engaging with, practicing and theorizing about our laws, and in doing so, they are continuing to build the foundation for a multijuridical Canada.”

Indigenous law leadership at UVic say the space will help strengthen strategies already underway, including recent agreements recognizing the Cowichan Tribes’ authority over child and family services.

“Indigenous Law is being recognized across the country — in our Indigenous communities, federal and provincial laws and policies, and even within Canadian courts,” said Sarah Morales, UVic’s associate dean for Indigenous law.

“The challenging work of determining the relationship between these laws and legal orders still confronts us. This new space offers a home for that work. A place where we can gather to take up complex conversations about new pathways for implementation in a good way, fostering real change for Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples alike.”

The opening of the new Indigenous law wing also comes at a moment of intense legal and political turbulence around Indigenous land claims in B.C., particularly in light of a landmark August 2025 judgment by the Cowichan Tribes that found the First Nation holds Aboriginal title over large portions of public and private property within the City of Richmond.

The ruling put Aboriginal title status above fee simple title private ownership — a decision that has sparked widespread concern, confusion, and anger among private landowners and residents, some of whom fear for the security of their property. There are also concerns that this decision could set a legal precedent for other public and private properties across the province — where there are also land claims — and chill economic activity.

The judge presiding over the Cowichan Tribes’ land claim case in Richmond indicated in her ruling that most of the evidence in the case spans the period from 1790 to 1914, with written records sparse and incomplete within the early part of the period. The judge then relied on a “substantial body of evidence” based on oral history, historical written records, expert opinion, and ethnographic evidence.

Wood design based on Indigenous principles

According to the provincial government, the university’s Indigenous law school building wing is a direct response to the federal government’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s report recommendation of creating Indigenous law institutions, and it aligns with the B.C. government’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act Action Plan — specifically reshaping post-secondary education to reflect and respect Indigenous knowledge and traditions.

The building expansion carried a total project cost of about $46 million, including $27 million in direct government funding — $18 million from the provincial government and $9 million from the federal government — as well as $11 million from the Law Foundation of British Columbia and almost $8 million from UVic.

Mohawk architect Matt Hickey of Two Row Architect — the Indigenous-led firm involved alongside Teeple Architects and Low Hammond Rowe Architects — says the new wing is infused throughout with Coast Salish teachings and legal principles.

He notes that core ideas appear at every turn: “The flora and fauna, the relationship to water, the importance of languages and how we speak to the world around us. There’s also witnessing, which is of Coast Salish culture and very much connected to law and the judicial system.”

A major priority for the design team was environmental stewardship. The project carefully minimized its impact by preserving mature trees where possible and replanting where removal was required. Wood from fallen trees was incorporated into interior structural columns.

Cut-out sections along the second-floor balcony reference traditional cedar-bark harvesting practices and the significance of the tree to coastal First Nations.

As well, the building’s roofline is intended as a showcase, Hickey explains, channelling rainfall into the surrounding landscape and ultimately Bowker Creek.

Other features pay tribute to longstanding Coast Salish ways of gathering and learning: an outdoor classroom for land-based education, a Sky Classroom, an Elders’ Garden, and a circular Small Gathering Space designed to enhance acoustics for oral storytelling and collective decision-making rather than relying on a microphone and speakers.

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