Celebrating 30 Years of the Indigenous Blacks & Mi’kmaq Initiative: How the Creation of a Critical Mass of Black and Aboriginal Lawyers is Making a Difference in Nova Scotia

Abstract

Drawing on my own experience as alumni of the Indigenous Blacks & Mi’kmaq Initiative at the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University—one of the only dedicated access program in a Canadian law school for Black and Aboriginal students—I argue that such programs create optimal conditions for fostering greater awareness of critical race issues within the legal profession. The reason for this is that such programs create a critical mass of Black and Aboriginal law students and alumni, who support and encourage each other and, as a result, acquire confidence and skill in raising, and educating others about, critical race issues within the various professional positions they hold. I believe that such programs are fundamental not only to increase representation within law schools, the legal profession and the judiciary but to creating lawyers leading positive change for their communities and society more generally.