The Apology 24 Years After
On June 11, 2008, then Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologized for the harms caused by establishing the residential school system. He said, “The Government of Canada sincerely apologizes and asks the forgiveness of the Aboriginal peoples of this country for failing them so profoundly. We are sorry.” Dr. Beverley Jacobs is an intergenerational survivor and was President of the Native Women’s Association of Canada at the time and had the opportunity to respond on the floor of the House of Commons in front of millions of people. During this webinar, she will share her experience and her thoughts post-apology.
This event will be held in English.
About Beverley Jacobs, CM, LLB, LLM, PhD Bear Clan, Mohawk Nation
Recently appointed as Senior Advisor to the President on Indigenous Relations and Outreach at the University of Windsor, Dr. Beverley Jacobs is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Windsor and practices law part-time in her home community of Six Nations of the Grand River Territory. Her research focuses on Indigenous Legal Orders, Indigenous Wholistic Health, Indigenous Research Methodologies, and Decolonization of Eurocentric Law.
Beverley obtained a Bachelor of Law Degree from the University of Windsor in 1994, a Master of Law Degree from the University of Saskatchewan in 2000, and a Ph.D. from the University of Calgary in 2018.
Dr. Jacobs is a former President of the Native Women’s Association of Canada (elected 2004 to 2009) and also a consultant/researcher/writer/public speaker. Her work centres around ending gendered colonial violence against Indigenous people and restoring Indigenous laws, beliefs, values, and traditions.
A prolific scholar, her published work has earned her numerous awards; her research combined with her advocacy has translated into national and international recognition. Dr. Jacobs received the Laura Legge Award from the Law Society of Ontario in 2021 and she was inducted as a Member of the Order of Canada in 2018. She received two awards from Mohawk College in 2018: Alumni of Distinction Award and Distinguished Fellow – Adjunct Professor. In her first year of teaching at the Faculty of Law at the University of Windsor in 2017, she received an Office of Human Rights, Equity & Accessibility, Human Rights and Social Justice Award. In 2016, she received a Franco-German Prize for Human Rights and the Rule of Law from the Governments of France and Germany for her human rights fight for the issues relating to missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in Canada. In 2008, she also received a Governor General’s Award in Commemoration of the Person’s Case, an Esquao Award from the Institute for the Advancement of Aboriginal Women and a Canadian Voice of Women of Peace Award from the Canadian Department of Peace Initiative and Civilian Peace Service Canada.