Delia Opekokew

Delia Opekokew is a Cree lawyer and writer from the Canoe Lake First Nation in Saskatchewan, Canada. She was the first First Nations lawyer ever admitted to the bar association in Ontario and in Saskatchewan,[1] as well as the first woman ever to run for the leadership of the Assembly of First Nations.

Delia Opekokew
Born
Saskatchewan
Education
  • University of Winnipeg
  • Osgoode Hall
Occupationlawyer

Early life and education

A member of the Canoe Lake First Nation in northern Saskatchewan, Delia Opekokew is the child of Marguerite and Jules Opekokew.[2]:101 Opekokew did not learn too speak English until the age of 8.[3] She managed to maintain her knowledge of the Cree language as a student over the course of eleven years spent between the Beauval Indian Residential School and the Lebret Indian Residential School.[4] She pursued undergraduate studies at the University of Winnipeg where she received a bursary for first year students with distinction.[2]:102 In 1977 she graduated from Osgoode Hall with a Bachelor of Laws.[1]

Career

In 1967 Opekokew became the first woman to sit on the executive of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indians and worked from 1968 to 1973 as an administrative assistant for Buffy Sainte-Marie assisting with the creation a Native American Center of the Living Arts in New York.[2]:101 Following her graduation from law school, Opekokew was the first Indigenous woman admitted to the Bar of Ontario in 1979 and to the Bar of Saskatchewan in 1983.[5] From 1979 to 1980, as a partner at Zlotkin & Opekokew, she practiced civil and family law before acting as legal counsel to the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations from 1980 to 1985.[5][1] She later became an associate with Blaney, McMurty, and Stapells where she worked from 1985 to 1990.[1] She subsequently worked in First Nations law across Canada, including stints as a commissioner investigating the shooting death of Leo Lachance and as lead counsel in Kenneth Deane's trial for the shooting death of Dudley George.[1][5]

Opekokew was the first woman to run for Grand Chief of the Assembly of First Nations' 1994 leadership convention.[6] She lost to Ovide Mercredi.

She is currently a partner in the Saskatoon law firm of Opekokew, Johnstone-Clarke.[1]

Awards
  • 2009 - Aboriginal Achievement Award[7]
  • 2012 - Women's Law Association of Ontario President's Award[5]
  • 2013 - Law Society of Ontario Medal[5][8]
  • 2016 - Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations lifetime achievement award[4]

Publications
  • The political and legal inequities among Aboriginal peoples in Canada. Institute of Intergovernmental Relations. 1987. ISBN 9780889114210.
  • The Interpretation of the Treaties Entered Into by the First Nations and the Crown and the Nature and Status of the Oral Promises in Relation to the Written Terms of the Treaties. Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. 1993. OCLC 62862801.
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References
  1. Delia Opekokew at the Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan.
  2. "Delia Opekokew". Saskatchewan First Nations : lives past and present (Google Book preview). Canadian Plains Research Center, University of Regina. 2004. pp. 101–103. ISBN 9780889771611. Retrieved 30 September 2018.
  3. "Delia Opekokew". Indspire. Retrieved 30 September 2018.
  4. Adam, Betty Ann (10 September 2016). "Lawyer Delia Opekokew recognized at Strength of Our Women awards". Saskatoon StarPhoenix. Retrieved 30 September 2018.
  5. "Awards 2013: The Law Society Medal". Law Society of Ontario Gazette. 27 April 2013. Retrieved 30 September 2018.
  6. "FEATURES". The Ambassadors. 9 (1). 2006. Retrieved 30 September 2018.
  7. "2009 Aboriginal Achievement Awards Recipients". The Nation: Cree News. 16 March 2009. Retrieved 30 September 2018.
  8. "Indigenous lawyer recognized with medal". Aboriginal Multi-Media Society. 2013. Retrieved 30 September 2018.

"First Nations lawyer in Ontario paving the way for Indigenous women". APTN News. 18 June 2013. Retrieved 30 September 2018.


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