Guuduniia

Hello, my name is Guuduniia (Guud-N-Eye) La Boucan. As an Aboriginal lawyer, I am interested in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and I strongly believe in the work that the Commission has done and continues to do. I would like to contribute to its goals of advancing the process of Canadian reconciliation through education about the law and some of the landmark Aboriginal law cases. But first, I would like to tell you a little bit of my own background.

I am a Cree woman whose family hails from the Whitefish Lake Band in Alberta. I was born in Vancouver, BC and placed with a Dutch foster family with whom my two older sisters already lived. The foster home was not a stellar example of parenting and my sisters and I suffered emotional, physical and sexual abuse.

Throughout my childhood and early adulthood, schooling was my refuge. I was an excellent student and won several scholarships. I became a biologist and a few years later, worked for the Haida Nation as their fisheries biologist. The Haida Nation was launching a pilot project, the Aboriginal Fishing Strategy with the federal government based on fisheries co-management. I learned a great deal about the Haida, fish and the government during my 3 year tenure.

I was recruited by the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, while still working for the Haida Nation. Despite knowing very little about politics, I worked as a Political Officer in several geographic and functional positions or “desks” as DFAIT likes to call them. Some of the highlights included being a member of the Landmine Ban Treaty campaign and acting as aide-de camp to Mary Simon, Ambassador for Circumpolar Affairs.

After returning to BC, I was hired as a fisheries biologist for Cowichan Tribes in Duncan, on Vancouver Island. While employed there, I was involved in the Hul’qumi’num Treaty Group’s negotiations and Aboriginal fishing rights. This latter issue eventually led me to law school in an effort to understand and hopefully influence annual fisheries allocation negotiations.

Returning to the subject at hand, we all know that the law is a powerful tool, but its language and form can be off putting and more than a little intimidating. In an effort to help make the law more accessible, I wrote three stories, Del’s Truck, Van der Sneak, and Dove, based on three landmark Aboriginal law cases, Delgamuukw, Van der Peet, and Sparrow respectively. I placed these three stories into a basket of essays that chronicled my journey through law school. I wrote from a place of an Aboriginal woman in Canada who had experienced pain and suffering due to government policies and laws. I wrote from a place of frustration and longing for a way to make sense of some of the cases we read at law school. I wrote from a place of reconciliation also because my ardent wish is that these stories and essays could help all Canadians understand how the law affects Aboriginal peoples. I offer these stories and essays to start a dialogue with anyone who reads them and wishes to know more. I offer these stories humbly in the hope that they might take wing and reach a greater audience. All my relations, têniki

Guudiniia LaBoucan B.Sc, J.D. guuduniia@dgwlaw.ca