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Title
Indigenous Legal Studies Faculty and Staff
Category
general
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18ce20b89fe14b22bf1cfddc2f53185d
Source URL
https://allard.ubc.ca/indigenous-legal-studies/indigenous-legal-studies-faculty-...
Parent URL
https://allard.ubc.ca/about-us/our-people/careers-allard-law
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2026-03-11T03:19:50+00:00
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# Indigenous Legal Studies Faculty and Staff

**Source**: https://allard.ubc.ca/indigenous-legal-studies/indigenous-legal-studies-faculty-and-staff
**Parent**: https://allard.ubc.ca/about-us/our-people/careers-allard-law

## Indigenous Legal Studies Committee

### [Johnny Mack](https://allard.ubc.ca/about-us/our-people/johnny-mack)

Associate Professor
\
Co-Academic Director, Indigenous Legal Studies

- **Phone:** [604 827 4823](tel:6048274823)
- **Email:** [mack@allard.ubc.ca](mailto:mack@allard.ubc.ca)

Professor Johnny Mack is from the Toquaht Nation (Nuu-chah-nulth) and is an Associate Professor at UBC Allard School of Law. From 2014-2018 he was jointly appointed across First Nations and Indigenous Studies and Allard Law at UBC. His research investigates the legal relationship between Indigenous and settler peoples in contemporary settler states, particularly Canada, as well as Indigenous constitutionalism, subjectivity, critical theory, and legal pluralism.

[View Profile](https://allard.ubc.ca/about-us/our-people/johnny-mack)

- Centre for Business Law
- Indigenous Legal Studies

### [Robert Clifford](https://allard.ubc.ca/about-us/our-people/robert-clifford)

Assistant Professor
\
Co-Academic Director, Indigenous Legal Studies

- **Email:** [clifford@allard.ubc.ca](mailto:clifford@allard.ubc.ca)

Robert is WSÁNEĆ and a member of the Tsawout First Nation, his home community; he carries the name YELKATŦE, which was passed to him by his late grandfather, Earl Claxton Sr.  His PhD research uses community participation methodologies to explore the ways WSÁNEĆ laws are generated by and reflect the values, philosophies, lands, and worldviews of the WSÁNEĆ people.

[View Profile](https://allard.ubc.ca/about-us/our-people/robert-clifford)

- Centre for Law and the Environment

### [Jessica Buffalo](https://allard.ubc.ca/about-us/our-people/jessica-buffalo)

Assistant Professor
\
Academic Director, Indigenous Community Legal Clinic

- **Email:** [buffalo@allard.ubc.ca](mailto:buffalo@allard.ubc.ca)

Jessica is from Samson Cree Nation/Nipisikohpahk, and her Cree/nehiyawak name is Maskwa Iskwêw, meaning Bear Woman. Before law school, she completed a Bachelor of Arts degree at Simon Fraser University, majoring in political science. Jessica obtained her Juris Doctor from Peter A. Allard School of Law at UBC in 2016 and was called to the Alberta Bar in 2017 after completing her articles at Calgary Legal Guidance.

[View Profile](https://allard.ubc.ca/about-us/our-people/jessica-buffalo)

- Indigenous Community Legal Clinic
- Indigenous Legal Studies

### [Scott Franks](https://allard.ubc.ca/about-us/our-people/scott-franks)

Assistant Professor

- **Email:** [franks@allard.ubc.ca](mailto:franks@allard.ubc.ca)

Franks is a citizen of the Manitoba Métis Federation and is from northern Saskatchewan. His doctoral research investigates the judicial construction of Métis legal identity in the Alberta Métis settlements (University of Ottawa; SSHRC - Doctoral - Joseph-Armand Bombardier). His LLM research investigated barriers and opportunities to the implementation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Calls to Action in law schools (SSHRC CGS-M, CBA Viscount Bennett, York University Graduate Fellowship and Scholarship, and Law Foundation of British Columbia).

[View Profile](https://allard.ubc.ca/about-us/our-people/scott-franks)

- Indigenous Legal Studies

### [Andrea Hilland, KC](https://allard.ubc.ca/about-us/our-people/andrea-hilland-kc)

Assistant Professor

- **Phone:** [604 827 3929](tel:6048273929)
- **Email:** [hilland@allard.ubc.ca](mailto:hilland@allard.ubc.ca)

Professor Hilland's research compares Indigenous and colonial laws to challenge discriminatory theories of colonial supremacy and Indigenous inferiority that have been upheld and perpetuated through the contemporary colonial legal system.

[View Profile](https://allard.ubc.ca/about-us/our-people/andrea-hilland-kc)

- Centre for Feminist Legal Studies
- Centre for Law and the Environment
- Indigenous Legal Studies

### [Salima Samnani, KC](https://allard.ubc.ca/about-us/our-people/salima-samnani-kc)

Lecturer
\
Co-Director, Legal Services, Indigenous Community Legal Clinic

- **Email:** [samnani@allard.ubc.ca](mailto:samnani@allard.ubc.ca)

Professor Samnani is a Kenyan Indo-Canadian Muslim immigrant. Her experience as a litigator and as a lecturer focuses on public law and civil law including family, child protection, and employment law. Professor Samnani’s research, areas of expertise, and advocacy focus mainly on access to justice, anti-racism, clinical legal education, and education for self-represented and underrepresented litigants.

[View Profile](https://allard.ubc.ca/about-us/our-people/salima-samnani-kc)

- Centre for Feminist Legal Studies
- Indigenous Community Legal Clinic
- Indigenous Legal Studies

### [Kristofer Charlebois](https://allard.ubc.ca/about-us/our-people/kristofer-charlebois)

ILSA Co-President
\
2L Student

Kristofer is Cree and Osage, a member of the Lac La Ronge Indian Band and the Osage Nation. Kristofer is a second-year law student and serves on the ILS Committee as the ILSA Co-President. Kristofer holds a Bachelor of Arts in Art History from the University of British Columbia.

[View Profile](https://allard.ubc.ca/about-us/our-people/kristofer-charlebois)

- Indigenous Legal Studies

### [Brooklyn Fowler](https://allard.ubc.ca/about-us/our-people/brooklyn-fowler)

ILSA Co-President and ILS Student Programming Assistant
\
2L Student

Brooklyn is Blackfoot, with ties to the Kainai nation within Southern Alberta. She is a second-year law student who serves on the ILS Committee as ILSA co-president alongside Kristopher Charlebois. Brooklyn holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance from Simon Fraser University.

[View Profile](https://allard.ubc.ca/about-us/our-people/brooklyn-fowler)

- Indigenous Legal Studies

## ILS Faculty

### [Jessica Buffalo](https://allard.ubc.ca/about-us/our-people/jessica-buffalo)

Assistant Professor
\
Academic Director, Indigenous Community Legal Clinic

- **Email:** [buffalo@allard.ubc.ca](mailto:buffalo@allard.ubc.ca)

Jessica is from Samson Cree Nation/Nipisikohpahk, and her Cree/nehiyawak name is Maskwa Iskwêw, meaning Bear Woman. Before law school, she completed a Bachelor of Arts degree at Simon Fraser University, majoring in political science. Jessica obtained her Juris Doctor from Peter A. Allard School of Law at UBC in 2016 and was called to the Alberta Bar in 2017 after completing her articles at Calgary Legal Guidance.

[View Profile](https://allard.ubc.ca/about-us/our-people/jessica-buffalo)

- Indigenous Community Legal Clinic
- Indigenous Legal Studies

### [Gordon Christie](https://allard.ubc.ca/about-us/our-people/gordon-christie)

Professor Emeritus

- **Phone:** [604 822 9872](tel:6048229872)
- **Email:** [christie@allard.ubc.ca](mailto:christie@allard.ubc.ca)

Professor Christie has a LL.B. from the University of Victoria, and a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He has taught in universities in Canada and the United States, in Faculties of Law, and Departments of Philosophy and Indigenous Studies. He was an Assistant Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School (1998 - 2004), where he also acted as Director of the Intensive Program in Aboriginal Lands, Resources and Governments.

[View Profile](https://allard.ubc.ca/about-us/our-people/gordon-christie)

- Indigenous Legal Studies

### [Robert Clifford](https://allard.ubc.ca/about-us/our-people/robert-clifford)

Assistant Professor
\
Co-Academic Director, Indigenous Legal Studies

- **Email:** [clifford@allard.ubc.ca](mailto:clifford@allard.ubc.ca)

Robert is WSÁNEĆ and a member of the Tsawout First Nation, his home community; he carries the name YELKATŦE, which was passed to him by his late grandfather, Earl Claxton Sr.  His PhD research uses community participation methodologies to explore the ways WSÁNEĆ laws are generated by and reflect the values, philosophies, lands, and worldviews of the WSÁNEĆ people.

[View Profile](https://allard.ubc.ca/about-us/our-people/robert-clifford)

- Centre for Law and the Environment

### [Scott Franks](https://allard.ubc.ca/about-us/our-people/scott-franks)

Assistant Professor

- **Email:** [franks@allard.ubc.ca](mailto:franks@allard.ubc.ca)

Franks is a citizen of the Manitoba Métis Federation and is from northern Saskatchewan. His doctoral research investigates the judicial construction of Métis legal identity in the Alberta Métis settlements (University of Ottawa; SSHRC - Doctoral - Joseph-Armand Bombardier). His LLM research investigated barriers and opportunities to the implementation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Calls to Action in law schools (SSHRC CGS-M, CBA Viscount Bennett, York University Graduate Fellowship and Scholarship, and Law Foundation of British Columbia).

[View Profile](https://allard.ubc.ca/about-us/our-people/scott-franks)

- Indigenous Legal Studies

### [Andrea Hilland, KC](https://allard.ubc.ca/about-us/our-people/andrea-hilland-kc)

Assistant Professor

- **Phone:** [604 827 3929](tel:6048273929)
- **Email:** [hilland@allard.ubc.ca](mailto:hilland@allard.ubc.ca)

Professor Hilland's research compares Indigenous and colonial laws to challenge discriminatory theories of colonial supremacy and Indigenous inferiority that have been upheld and perpetuated through the contemporary colonial legal system.

[View Profile](https://allard.ubc.ca/about-us/our-people/andrea-hilland-kc)

- Centre for Feminist Legal Studies
- Centre for Law and the Environment
- Indigenous Legal Studies

### [Michael Jackson, KC](https://allard.ubc.ca/about-us/our-people/michael-jackson-kc)

Emeritus Professor of Law

- **Email:** [jackson@allard.ubc.ca](mailto:jackson@allard.ubc.ca)

Michael Jackson has been involved in the teaching and advocacy of human rights for over thirty years, specializing in the areas of prisoners rights and Aboriginal rights. His courses on these subjects were the first to be introduced in a Canadian law school. Professor Jackson is a member of the bar of British Columbia and has represented prisoners and First Nations in landmark cases before the Supreme Court of Canada, including the Delgamuukw and Haida Nation cases.

[View Profile](https://allard.ubc.ca/about-us/our-people/michael-jackson-kc)

### [Johnny Mack](https://allard.ubc.ca/about-us/our-people/johnny-mack)

Associate Professor
\
Co-Academic Director, Indigenous Legal Studies

- **Phone:** [604 827 4823](tel:6048274823)
- **Email:** [mack@allard.ubc.ca](mailto:mack@allard.ubc.ca)

Professor Johnny Mack is from the Toquaht Nation (Nuu-chah-nulth) and is an Associate Professor at UBC Allard School of Law. From 2014-2018 he was jointly appointed across First Nations and Indigenous Studies and Allard Law at UBC. His research investigates the legal relationship between Indigenous and settler peoples in contemporary settler states, particularly Canada, as well as Indigenous constitutionalism, subjectivity, critical theory, and legal pluralism.

[View Profile](https://allard.ubc.ca/about-us/our-people/johnny-mack)

- Centre for Business Law
- Indigenous Legal Studies

### [Patricia M. Barkaskas](https://allard.ubc.ca/about-us/our-people/patricia-m-barkaskas)

Associate Professor

- **Phone:** [604 822 5629](tel:6048225629)
- **Email:** [barkaskas@allard.ubc.ca](mailto:barkaskas@allard.ubc.ca)

Patricia M. Barkaskas is Métis from Alberta. Her work examines the intersections of justice and law, with an emphasis on the experiences of Indigenous peoples, and disrupting the normative violence of colonial legal education. Her research focuses on Indigenous laws, access to justice for Indigenous peoples, decolonizing and Indigenizing law, and using Indigenous pedagogies in experiential learning and skills-based legal education and training.

[View Profile](https://allard.ubc.ca/about-us/our-people/patricia-m-barkaskas)

- Centre for Feminist Legal Studies
- Indigenous Legal Studies

## ILS Instructors

### [Jocelyn Stacey](https://allard.ubc.ca/about-us/our-people/jocelyn-stacey)

Associate Professor
\
ILS Academic Leadership Certificate Faculty Lead

- **Phone:** [604 822 8326](tel:6048228326)
- **Email:** [stacey@allard.ubc.ca](mailto:stacey@allard.ubc.ca)

Jocelyn Stacey is Associate Professor at the Peter A. Allard School of Law, University of British Columbia. She researches environmental crises and the visible and invisible ways in which law creates, regulates and prevents these events.

[View Profile](https://allard.ubc.ca/about-us/our-people/jocelyn-stacey)

- Centre for Feminist Legal Studies
- Centre for Law and the Environment
- Indigenous Legal Studies

### [Salima Samnani, KC](https://allard.ubc.ca/about-us/our-people/salima-samnani-kc)

Lecturer
\
Co-Director, Legal Services, Indigenous Community Legal Clinic

- **Email:** [samnani@allard.ubc.ca](mailto:samnani@allard.ubc.ca)

Professor Samnani is a Kenyan Indo-Canadian Muslim immigrant. Her experience as a litigator and as a lecturer focuses on public law and civil law including family, child protection, and employment law. Professor Samnani’s research, areas of expertise, and advocacy focus mainly on access to justice, anti-racism, clinical legal education, and education for self-represented and underrepresented litigants.

[View Profile](https://allard.ubc.ca/about-us/our-people/salima-samnani-kc)

- Centre for Feminist Legal Studies
- Indigenous Community Legal Clinic
- Indigenous Legal Studies

## ILS Adjunct Professors

### [Nigel Baker-Grenier](https://allard.ubc.ca/about-us/our-people/nigel-baker-grenier)

Adjunct Professor

Nigel belongs to the Gisgahaast clan from the Gitxsan Nation. He is also Swampy Cree from Churchill, Manitoba. Nigel is an Adjunct Professor at the Peter A. Allard School of Law and an Associate at White Raven Law. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in the History Honours program at the University of British Columbia and a Juris Doctor from the Peter A. Allard School of Law.

[View Profile](https://allard.ubc.ca/about-us/our-people/nigel-baker-grenier)

- Indigenous Legal Studies

### [Maxime Faille](https://allard.ubc.ca/about-us/our-people/maxime-faille)

Adjunct Professor

- **Email:** [mfaille@cochranesinclair.ca](mailto:mfaille@cochranesinclair.ca)

Max is Managing Partner (Vancouver) of Cochrane Sinclair LLP, practicing in Indigenous law and constitutional litigation. One of Canada’s leading authorities in the field of First Nation taxation, Max regularly provides advice and legal representation in this area to Indigenous governments, businesses, economic development corporations and social agencies, as well as to non-Indigenous corporate and governmental entities.

[View Profile](https://allard.ubc.ca/about-us/our-people/maxime-faille)

- Indigenous Legal Studies

### [Kate Gunn](https://allard.ubc.ca/about-us/our-people/kate-gunn)

Adjunct Professor

Kate Gunn is a partner at First Peoples Law LLP. Kate holds an LLM from the University of British Columbia, where her research focused on the interpretation of treaties between Indigenous Peoples and the Crown. She is also a founding member of the Justice and Corporate Accountability Project, a legal clinic which provides advocacy and support to communities affected by transnational corporate activities and resource extraction.

[View Profile](https://allard.ubc.ca/about-us/our-people/kate-gunn)

- Indigenous Legal Studies

### [Darwin Hanna](https://allard.ubc.ca/about-us/our-people/darwin-hanna)

Adjunct Professor

Darwin Hanna is a founding partner of Callison & Hanna and is one of six Indigenous lawyers with the firm. In 2021, the firm celebrated 25 years of service to Indigenous Nations. He is a member of the Nlaka’pmux Nation from the community of Lytton. 
He has worked for Indigenous Nations throughout British Columbia and the Northwest Territories on a wide array of legal matters with a focus on reconciliation, land claims, specific claims, community governance and development, and employment law. He is a member of the Law Societies of British Columbia and the Northwest Territories.

[View Profile](https://allard.ubc.ca/about-us/our-people/darwin-hanna)

- Indigenous Legal Studies

### [Bruce McIvor](https://allard.ubc.ca/about-us/our-people/bruce-mcivor)

Adjunct Professor

Dr. Bruce McIvor is a partner at First Peoples Law LLP. Bruce is a member of the Manitoba Métis Federation. His work includes both litigation and negotiation on behalf of Indigenous Peoples across Canada. Bruce is recognized nationally and internationally as a leading practitioner of Aboriginal law in Canada.

[View Profile](https://allard.ubc.ca/about-us/our-people/bruce-mcivor)

- Indigenous Legal Studies

### [Karenna Williams](https://allard.ubc.ca/about-us/our-people/karenna-williams)

Adjunct Professor

Karenna is Turtle Clan Kanyen’kehá:ka (Mohawk) from Six Nations, Grand River Territory, Ontario. She has a B.A. in Art History and Political Science from McGill University, and a J.D. from the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. In her practice, Karenna is primarily a litigator advocating for Indigenous peoples’ rights, title, cultures, languages and ways of life.

[View Profile](https://allard.ubc.ca/about-us/our-people/karenna-williams)

- Indigenous Legal Studies

## Staff

### [Russell Nesbitt](https://allard.ubc.ca/about-us/our-people/russell-nesbitt)

Associate Director of Indigenous Legal Studies

- **Phone:** [604 822 2177](tel:6048222177)
- **Email:** [nesbitt@allard.ubc.ca](mailto:nesbitt@allard.ubc.ca)

Russell Nesbitt is a proud member of the Métis Nation of British Columbia and a graduate of the University of British Columbia's Faculty of Law. With over a decade of experience collaborating with Indigenous communities and organizations, Russell is dedicated to fostering inclusivity. He strives to create a warm and welcoming environment for Indigenous, 2SLGBTQIA+ and neurodivergent individuals within the legal community.

[View Profile](https://allard.ubc.ca/about-us/our-people/russell-nesbitt)

- Indigenous Legal Studies
- Student Affairs Office

### [Brooklyn Fowler](https://allard.ubc.ca/about-us/our-people/brooklyn-fowler)

ILSA Co-President and ILS Student Programming Assistant
\
2L Student

Brooklyn is Blackfoot, with ties to the Kainai nation within Southern Alberta. She is a second-year law student who serves on the ILS Committee as ILSA co-president alongside Kristopher Charlebois. Brooklyn holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance from Simon Fraser University.

[View Profile](https://allard.ubc.ca/about-us/our-people/brooklyn-fowler)

- Indigenous Legal Studies

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