Indigenous Speakers Series presents Jean Teillet | Arts

The Indigenous Speakers Series is pleased and honoured to present Jean Teillet, lawyer, author, teacher and artist, as the first of our 2021-22 speakers.

About Jean Teillet

Jean Teillet is Senior Counsel with Pape Salter Teillet LLP who has long been engaged in negotiations and litigation with provincial and federal governments concerning Métis and First Nation land rights, harvesting rights and self-government. Among her significant Indigenous rights cases, she served as lead counsel for the landmark case R. v. Powley in which the Supreme Court of Canada affirmed constitutional protection of Métis harvesting rights.

Jean holds numerous awards and honours, including the Governor General’s Meritorious Service Cross for service to Canada, the Indigenous Peoples’ Council award by the Indigenous Bar Association, a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, and the Law Society of Upper Canada’s first ever Lincoln Alexander Award for community service. She holds three honorary doctorates.

Jean is the great grandniece of Louis Riel and recently published The North-West is Our Mother: The Story of Louis Riel’s People, the Métis Nation, which was listed as one of the Globe & Mail’s top 100 books of 2019.

In her Indigenous Speakers Series appearance, Jean will share stories from the process of writing The North-West is Our Mother; and will discuss who the Métis people are, where they are, and what is happening in the community today and into the future. Her talk will be followed by a moderated Q and A — and several copies of Jean Teillet's book will be given away, courtesy of the Office of Indigenous Relatons!

Portrait of Jean Teillet by Hawlii Pichette, Urban Iskwew.

About joining the online event

Please join the event via the Teams livestream link at 12 p.m. on Thursday, December 2. No sign-in or registration required!
This event will offer American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation. When you join the livestream event (above link) please visit the Q and A section for instructions to access ASL interpretation alongside the event livestream.

The Indigenous Speakers Series is organized by a group of Indigenous and settler faculty, staff, and students from the Waterloo Indigenous Student Centre (WISC), the Dean of Arts Office, the departments of History and Communication Arts, the Office of Indigenous Relations, and the Office of Research. The series is co-sponsored by WISC and the Faculty of Arts with the support of donors to the Arts Indigenous Initiatives fund. The series highlights the voices of Indigenous artists, writers, activists, and leaders from across Turtle Island, offering UWaterloo students, faculty and staff opportunities to learn from, understand, and engage with Indigenous issues.