THUNDER BAY – Lakehead University has named University of New Brunswick professor Jula Hughes as its new dean of law.
Hughes said she’s excited to join the Bora Laskin Faculty of Law, in a release issued on Tuesday by the Thunder Bay university.
“Reconciliation with First Peoples and access to justice are key challenges for our legal system, for the legal profession and for legal education in Canada,” she said.
“I am excited to join the Bora Laskin Faculty of Law as Dean and to lead and contribute to a faculty with a mandate to learn from Indigenous legal traditions and to promote equitable and honourable relationships between Indigenous peoples and settlers.”
Creating lawyers in the North, for the North is a key part of the ideology she’s bringing to Lakehead University.
“Access to justice is an important determinant of a peaceful and prosperous society. Through the integrated practice curriculum, the Bora Laskin Faculty of Law is educating lawyers in the North, for the North. I see huge promise in the approach Lakehead University has taken to the issue of access to justice. We can make a big difference.”
Hughes’ appointment marks a tumultuous couple of years at the Bora Laskin School of Law. Former dean Angelique Eaglewoman, the first Indigenous dean of a Canadian law school, quit her post in April 2018, claiming systemic racism at the Thunder Bay school.
Later that year she sued the university for racial discrimination.
In the wake of Eaglewoman’s resignation, Justice Patrick Smith in May 2018 was appointed to the role on an interim basis.
He subsequently faced a conduct review for taking the position, which did not sit well with the Canadian Judicial Council. Smith returned to the bench last September.
David Barnett then took over the role on an interim basis.
Barnett called Hughes an ideal replacement.
“Jula’s experience makes her a perfect fit with the faculty’s three mandates,” he said in the release.
The school said the search for a permanent replacement for Eaglewoman began last year and involved representatives of the faculty of law as well as other university faculties, the school’s various governing bodies, the Thunder Bay Law Association and several Indigenous organizations and bodies, including Fort William First Nation, Grand Council Treaty 3 and Nishnawbe Aski Nation.
Hughes, who becomes the fifth dean in the law school’s short history, starts her new role on Oct. 1. She is the author of 24 peer-reviewed publications and currently holds a two-year appointment as a university research scholar and is the principal investigator on the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and Status of Women Canada.
She currently teaches criminal law, constitutional law and jurisprudence.
