Photo of Benjamin Ralston standing at Iqaluit Harbour
Benjamin Ralston, assistant professor with USask Law, at Iqaluit Harbour during a recent trip to Nunavut. (Photo: Submitted)

USask Law maintains connection with Nunavut legal community

Though the physical distance between them is vast, the University of Saskatchewan College of Law (USask Law) and the Nunavut legal community have an enduring connection.

By USask Law Communications

Dean Martin Phillipson and Professor Ben Ralston recently travelled to Iqaluit, capital city of the Nunavut territory, where they reconnected with graduates of the Nunavut Law Program (NLP), which saw 22 students earn their Juris Doctor degrees. 

The NLP included one year of pre-law instruction and three years of legal studies, which concluded in spring 2021. Delivery was a partnership between the College of Law, Nunavut Arctic College (NAC) and the Government of Nunavut in order to increase the number of practising lawyers in Nunavut. 

"I regard the delivery of the Nunavut Law Program as one of the highlights of my professional career, and an enormous achievement for the College of Law, reaffirming our 50-year commitment to the promotion of Indigenous legal education," Phillipson said. "Its impact has been truly transformational, leaving a lasting impression not only on the graduates but on the entire legal community in Nunavut."

USask Law Dean Martin Phillipson (on left) and Assistant Professor Benjamin Ralston (on right) gathered recently in Iqaluit with graduates of the Nunavut Law Program. (Photo: Submitted)

Phillipson’s and Ralston’s visit was spurred by an invitation to Ralston from the Canadian Bar Association (CBA) Nunavut Branch to lead a continuing legal education event examining how Canadian law has evolved in the decade following the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Stephen Mansell (JD’07), chief negotiator of devolution with the Nunavut government and a CBA Canada board member, spearheaded the plans.  

Ralston said he was grateful to travel back to Iqaluit, where he lived for eight months between 2017 and 2018 as a full-time faculty member delivering the foundational first-year programming for the NLP, including classes on research methodologies and legal processes, returning in early 2021 to teach Environmental Law and Aboriginal Law in the final months of the program. Iqaluit is about 2000 km northwest of St. John's, Newfoundland. 

USask Law Assistant Professor Benjamin Ralston led an event for the Canadian Bar Association Nunavut Branch. (Photo: Submitted)

“I made professional connections in Nunavut’s tight-knit legal community through CBA events. This return trip to Iqaluit felt like a homecoming.”

In addition to the CBA event, Phillipson and Ralston attended a reception with several grads from the NLP.   

“The program was a true community effort and together we delivered one of the most successful higher education initiatives in the territory’s history,” Phillipson said. “I was genuinely excited about the chance to reconnect with graduates and the legal community.”