(Press-News.org) Indigenous communities will be empowered to renew and rebuild their own legal systems with support from Next Steps: Rebuilding Indigenous Law, the new research initiative from the University of Victoria (UVic) Faculty of Law.
“UVic is in the forefront of a profound shift in how education and research can be done—with Indigenous Peoples as co-creators and leaders,” says Qwul’sih’yah’maht, Robina Thomas, acting president and vice-chancellor of the University of Victoria. “Next Steps not only represents a model of collaboration rooted in respect, reciprocity, and Indigenous sovereignty, it is our committed response to the Truth and Reconciliation (TRC) Calls to Action.”
Next Steps is a research initiative dedicated to rebuilding entire Indigenous legal orders, focusing on all areas of law. Each Indigenous society has its own unique traditions from which legal orders—systems of law, including common law—are drawn from by centuries of knowledge and interactions within and across cultures. Next Steps will work with Indigenous partners to rebuild these legal orders and to revitalize and apply their own legal traditions to respond to today's realities.
“We are expanding the scope and scale of work to rebuild and comprehensively restore Indigenous law in Canada,” says Val Napoleon, founder and academic lead for Next Steps. “There is no intact Indigenous legal order that will spring to life with its mere recognition. This work is about self-determination in action. Indigenous Peoples have vibrant, sophisticated legal systems that have governed our lands and relationships from before time. Rebuilding these systems is the foundation for a just future for Indigenous Peoples and for Canada.”
The process of rebuilding Indigenous legal orders reaffirms Indigenous laws as living systems that can help solve today’s problems, in communities and beyond. It serves as a model of Indigenous self-determination that can inspire similar initiatives worldwide.
The first project is underway with the Secwépemc Nation. They have been selected based on their previous work building a strong foundation for revitalizing Secwépemc legal orders, both independently and in collaboration with Indigenous Legal Research Unit (ILRU).
It builds upon the foundation of UVic’s leadership through ILRU and the Faculty of Law’s innovative Juris Doctor & Juris Indigenarum Doctor (JD/JID) degree.
The Next Steps initiative is supported through a $10 million investment by the Law Foundation of BC. This remarkable commitment builds on the foundation's long-standing partnership with UVic Faculty of Law to support innovative legal education and lift the revitalization of Indigenous legal orders, ultimately driving meaningful societal transformation.
Next Steps is in alignment with and furthers the goals and principles of TRC Calls to Action, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls’ (MMIWG) Calls to Justice, the Canada United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (UNDA), and the British Columbia United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA).
Next Steps is an example of UVic’s commitment to the teaching of Nəc̓ əmaat kʷəns čeʔi | ĆȺNEUEL OL | Work together, one of four Laws and Philosophies that guide the Indigenous Plan. Learn more.
For more information, go to www.nextstepsindigenouslaw.ca.
END
Global first: New Indigenous-led research initiative to revitalize legal orders
2025-12-08
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Transforming acoustic waves with a chip
2025-12-08
Acoustic waves are best known as the invisible delivery agents bringing voices, car horns, or our favorite song to our ears. But the waves can also move physical objects, like an item vibrating atop a concert speaker — offering the power to turn sound into a tool.
Since receiving a 2024 National Science Foundation CAREER Award, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering Zhenhua Tian and his team have explored how to use acoustic waves as invisible grabbers to manipulate fluid flows and tiny particles on electronic chips. ...
When climate risk hits home, people listen: Study reveals key to engagement with disaster preparedness messaging
2025-12-08
A subtle change in how climate risk is communicated—mentioning a person’s local area—can significantly increase attention to disaster preparedness messages, according to a new study by researchers at the Stockholm School of Economics and Harvard University, published in Nature Human Behaviour. The findings offer a practical, low-cost strategy for governments, insurers and local authorities seeking to boost climate resilience in vulnerable communities.
In a large field experiment involving nearly 13,000 homeowners in wildfire-prone areas ...
Major breakthrough against diabetes thanks to a microbial molecule that disarms inflammation
2025-12-08
An international research team led by Professor Marc-Emmanuel Dumas at Imperial College London & CNRS together with Prof. Patrice Cani (Imperial & University of Louvain, UCLouvain), Dr. Dominique Gauguier (Imperial & INSERM, Paris) and Prof. Peter Liu (University of Ottawa Heart Institute) has uncovered a surprising ally in the fight against insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes: a microbial metabolite called trimethylamine (TMA). Published in Nature Metabolism, the study reveals that ...
Silicon chips on the brain: Researchers announce a new generation of brain-computer interface
2025-12-08
A new brain implant stands to transform human-computer interaction and expand treatment possibilities for neurological conditions such as epilepsy, spinal cord injury, ALS, stroke, and blindness – helping to manage seizures and restore motor, speech, and visual function. This is done by providing a minimally invasive, high-throughput information link directly to and from the brain.
The transformational potential of this new system lies in its small size and ability to transfer data at high rates. Developed by researchers at Columbia University, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, Stanford University, and the University of Pennsylvania, this brain-computer interface (BCI) relies ...
Getting rest is the best
2025-12-08
Getting enough sleep and staying active are two of the most important things we can do for our health, but new research shows that most people struggle to achieve both, and that sleep may hold the key to moving more.
A study led by Flinders University analysed more than 28 million days of real-world health data from over 70,000 people across the globe and found that fewer than 13% consistently meet recommended sleep and physical activity targets.
The findings suggest that improving sleep quality could be an effective way to boost daily activity.
The research team examined data collected over three ...
Towards sustainable organic synthesis – Mechanochemistry replaces lithium with sodium in organic reactions
2025-12-08
Highly reactive organometallic reagents, like organolithiums (molecules with a carbon–lithium bond) are essential reagents in organic synthesis because of their applications from polymer synthesis to pharmaceuticals, and more. Lithium resources, however, are difficult to access because concentrated deposits are geographically restricted and modern extraction methods are burdened with environmental costs. Replacing lithium with sodium would be a significant contribution towards environmentally friendly organic synthesis because it is >1000 times more abundant and its extraction from seawater is sustainable ...
Wireless device ‘speaks’ to the brain with light
2025-12-08
In a new leap for neurobiology and bioelectronics, Northwestern University scientists have developed a wireless device that uses light to send information directly to the brain — bypassing the body’s natural sensory pathways.
The soft, flexible device sits under the scalp but on top of the skull, where it delivers precise patterns of light through the bone to activate neurons across the cortex.
In experiments, scientists used the device’s tiny, patterned bursts of light to activate specific populations of neurons deep inside the brains of mouse models. (These neurons are genetically modified to respond to light.) The mice quickly learned ...
Greenhouse gases to intensify extreme flooding in the Central Himalayas
2025-12-08
Rising greenhouse gas emissions could see the size of extreme floods in the Central Himalayas increase by between as much as 73% and 84% by the end of this century.
Geographers at Durham University, UK, simulated the risk of increased flooding on the Karnali River, which spans Nepal and China and has the potential to impact communities in Nepal and India.
They found that extreme floods – those with a 1% chance of happening within a year – could increase in size by 22% and 26% between 2020 and 2059, compared to flooding seen in the region between 1975 and 2014.
This increase ...
New study sheds light on Milky Way's mysterious chemical history
2025-12-08
Clues about how galaxies like our Milky Way form and evolve and why their stars show surprising chemical patterns have been revealed by a new study.
The research, published today in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, explores the origins of a puzzling feature in the Milky Way: the presence of two distinct groups of stars with different chemical compositions, known as the "chemical bimodality".
When scientists study stars near the Sun, they find two main types based on their chemical makeup, specifically, the amounts of iron (Fe) and magnesium (Mg) they contain. These two groups form ...
Could altering the daily timing of immunotherapy improve survival in people with cancer?
2025-12-08
Receiving anticancer immunotherapy earlier in the day may help individuals with cancer live longer. That’s according to a study published by Wiley online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society.
An internal clock, or circadian rhythm, affects when different physiological processes (including immune reactions) in the body are active. This might explain why various medications appear to be more effective when taken at certain times of day.
Researchers investigated this phenomenon in 397 patients with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer who received the immunotherapy drugs atezolizumab or durvalumab plus chemotherapy at the ...