John Borrows and David Walders receive TRC Teaching Awards

John Borrows, professor and inaugural Loveland Chair in Indigenous Law at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Law, and David Walders, an adjunct professor at the faculty, have received TRC Teaching Awards from the Students’ Law Society and the Indigenous Law Students’ Association.

The awards recognize faculty members who have made an outstanding contribution to the implementation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) of Canada’s Call to Action #28 by teaching course content involving Indigenous perspectives, topics and law, as well as Canadian Aboriginal Law.

Borrows, a member of the Chippewa of the Nawash First Nation in Ontario, began teaching a new course to first-year law students that addresses the intersection of Indigenous Peoples’ laws with Canada's laws. Over the past decade, Borrows has also taught an intensive course in Anishinaabe law and legal tradition, often bringing students to his People's Neyaashiinigmiing reserve to meet with Elders, Chiefs, colleagues and teachers and experience Indigenous law in context.

Walders is Anishinaabe and his family is from Alderville First Nation. In addition to co-teaching a seminar in Aboriginal Law and Policy, Walders was recognized for making a significant impact through his role in the Kawaskimhon Aboriginal Law Moot, a consensus-based, non-adversarial moot that incorporates Indigenous legal traditions alongside federal, provincial and international law.

Read the Faculty of Law story