Indigenous legal resources

Courthouse Libraries BC has prepared a resource guide for those looking for legal information and legal help for Indigenous specific legal topics. This guide is organized by audience and is meant as a starting point for research. It is not an exhaustive list of all available resources.

Online Resources

Clicklaw: Common Questions 

Other Resources

Class Actions 

Print Resources

The LawMatters program provides grant funding to public libraries so they can purchase and maintain legal collections in their libraries. You can find more information, including the Law Books for Libraries List, a curated list of recommended titles, on the LawMatters page.

Please contact LawMatters at lawmatters@courthouselibrary.ca for any questions regarding this list, the grants, or ordering titles for your public library.

Online Resources

Clicklaw: Common Questions

Other Resources: 

Print Resources: 

First Nations 101 / by Lynda Gray

  • Lynda Gray’s informative, humorous, accessible guide to the diverse and complex lives of First Nations peoples gives readers an insight into the realities of day-to-day life as a First Nations person in Canada. Covering a wide range of topics including identity, social and community issues, justice, health, and culture this book illustrates the shared history of First Nations and non-First Nations people and calls upon all Canadians to play an active role in the process of Reconciliation.

Otter’s Journey through Indigenous Language and Law / by Lindsay Keegitah Borrows

  • Author, Lindsay Keegitah Borrows, uses the Anishinaabe storytelling tradition to explore the relationship between Indigenous language and legal revitalization. Following Otter on a journey through Anishinaabe, Inuit, Māori, Coast Salish, and Abenaki territories, the story reveals the processes, philosophies, and practices of Indigenous language and law and shows how they can rise up from under colonial legal structures.

Policing Indigenous Movements: Dissent and the Security State / by Andrew Crosby and Jeffrey Monaghan

  • Authors, Andrew Crosby and Jeffrey Monaghan explore the expansion of surveillance and policing of Indigenous Peoples and Indigenous-led movements for social and environmental justice in Canada over the past several years. By examining four high-profile movements – Idle No More, the Northern Gateway Pipeline protests, the Elsipogtog First Nation anti-fracking struggle, and the conflict involving the Algonquin People of Barriere Lake – the authors raise questions about the expanding security system, police surveillance, the criminalization of dissent, and threats to civil liberties.

You may also be able to find these titles at your public library.

Gladue Reports

  • Gladue Reports: Perspective from the Bench (2016)
  • Gladue Reports: Perspective from Defence Counsel (2016)
  • Gladue Reports: Perspective from Legal Services Society (2016)
  • Gladue Submissions: Preparing Gladue Sentencing Submissions (2018)

Indigenous Courts - Elder Training Series

  • Substance Use, Harm Reduction and Recovery (2021)
  • Challenges of FASD for Legal Professionals (2021)
  • Understanding FASD: Re-Balancing the Wheel Healing from the Heart (2021)
  • Understanding Trauma (2021)

Indigenous Law

  • Indigenous Rights in BC and Indian Act Amendments (2020)
  • Indian Day Schools in Canada (2020)
  • Métis Legal Issues (2020)
  • Indigenous Human Rights Law (2020)
  • Navigating Housing on Reserve (2019)

Indigenous Peoples & the Law - series

  • Overview of the Calls to Action (2020)
  • The Next Stages of Indigenous Governance in Quebec (2020)
  • Indigenous Courts: A cross-jurisdictional perspective (2020)
  • Discussing the Promises and Problems with the Act Respecting First Nations, Métis and Inuit Children, Youth and Families (2021)

Practice Management

  • Race Issues in the BC Legal System (2020)

Content reviewed: September 26, 2023