WHAT WAS YOUR PATH INTO LAW AND ONTO THE BENCH?

I was born on the Piikani Reserve, and I am a member of the Piikani First Nation. My eight siblings and I were raised in a small three-room house by my parents, Edward and Anne Marie Crowshoe. We felt the historical legacy of colonialism, systemic racism and oppression, and the effects of intergenerational trauma from the residential school experience that impacted our family. Our parents persevered through their experience, and they taught us to be resilient and to strive to overcome the challenges that Indigenous people face every day. They also taught us that getting an education was important to our future.

A few years after completing high school, I commenced my post-secondary studies at the University of Lethbridge and obtained my bachelor’s degree in management in 1994. While attending my last year of studies there, I was enrolled in a Native Studies course taught by one of only two practising lawyers from our Blackfoot community. He was an inspiration and role model to many of the Indigenous students and spoke of the need to have more Indigenous lawyers and encouraged us to pursue our studies in the area of law after graduation. I did pursue that education path and obtained my law degree from the University of British Columbia in 1992 and I was called to the Alberta bar in 1994.

I practiced law for over twenty years before I applied to bench after encouragement from a First Nation’s judge who stressed the need for more Indigenous lawyers to apply to the bench. He was the same person who taught the Native studies course many years earlier after becoming a lawyer and who had been elevated to the Provincial Court of Alberta bench. This discussion occurred around the same time the Truth and Reconciliation Commission released their Calls to Action in 2015, including a call to eliminate the overrepresentation of Indigenous people in custody. As a result of my discussions with the First Nation judge and after viewing the Calls to Action, I went to observe criminal court in the neighboring town to the Piikani Reserve and I noticed the people in the court were mainly Indigenous people from my community. I thought, there could be a better way and a more restorative way to deal with Indigenous people before the court. I then submitted my application to become a Provincial Court Judge and I was appointed to the bench in December of 2017, becoming the first First Nation woman appointed to the bench in Alberta.

Since my appointment I have been involved with the establishment of the Calgary Indigenous Court that officially opened in September of 2019 and where I sit on a regular basis. The Indigenous participants in this court have an opportunity to create a restorative healing plan with wrap around services that will bring their lives into balance, including historical intergenerational trauma counselling, access to Traditional Knowledge Keepers for spiritual and cultural guidance and ceremonies. I also sit in regional courts where there is a higher population of Indigenous people and where I can offer a similar restorative healing approach to Indigenous persons before the court.

WHAT EXPERIENCE IN YOUR LEGAL CAREER BEST PREPARED YOU FOR WORK ON THE BENCH?

Prior to my appointment to the bench, I had the privilege, as an Indigenous lawyer, to devote my legal career to working with First Nation people, entities and governments. I have had a lifetime of Indigenous experience, based upon my First Nation heritage and background, to address Indigenous persons in our courts in a meaningful way every day. I am also utilizing my background to further Indigenous justice initiatives in our court, including reconciliation efforts taking shape in our courts with the establishment of Indigenous courts, Indigenous justice strategies and Indigenous restorative justice approaches in the justice system.

I am fortunate and privileged that throughout my legal career I continued to participate in Blackfoot spiritual, traditional and cultural practices. These practices are a fundamental component of my cultural identity and I realize the importance of these practices in the lives of Indigenous people, and I understand that the lack thereof has led many Indigenous people into contact with the court. This knowledge and background have allowed me to recommend restorative forms of healing to Indigenous people who may be disconnected from their Indigenous identity and culture.

WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR COUNSEL WHO APPEAR BEFORE YOU?

Know their Indigenous client, including their Indigenous affiliation, their Indigenous community, their background and how their lives have been impacted from intergenerational trauma associated with the residential school legacy and other factors identified in the Supreme Court cases of R v Gladue and R v Ipeelee, that we now refer to as Gladue factors. This background information is essential to the court and the Supreme Court of Canada has instructed trial judges to consider Gladue factors in any sentencing hearing before the court. This background information is also essential to judges for bail hearings involving an Indigenous person and the Criminal Code requires judges to “give particular attention to the circumstances of Aboriginal persons when making an order for judicial interim release” under section 493.2(a) of the Criminal Code of Canada.

WHAT DO YOU WISH THE PUBLIC KNEW ABOUT THE JUSTICE SYSTEM?

The public should know that the Provincial Court of Justice, formerly known as the Provincial Court of Alberta, has a Provincial Court Indigenous Justice Strategy that was included in the Provincial Court of Alberta’s 2021-2024 Strategic Plan. One of the priorities of the Court is to “work to provide a culturally relevant, restorative, and holistic system of justice for Indigenous individuals including accused persons, offenders, victims, families, youth, and children as well as those Indigenous communities impacted by the actions of those who find themselves before the Court”.

Further, the Provincial Court of Justice, as outlined in the Indigenous Justice Strategy, recognizes that Indigenous peoples from diverse communities who attend the court also have distinct histories, needs and priorities and who, for a number of reasons, have felt a general lack of access to the court system and a lack of confidence in the justice system. Further, that the Provincial Court of Justice is cognizant that Indigenous people are overrepresented in pre-trial and post-trial custody and Indigenous children are apprehended and overrepresented in the child welfare system, as such, the Provincial Court of Justice aims to fulfill the recommendations outlined in the Indigenous Justice Strategy to address these findings.