Released on March 4, 1998
Justice Minister John Nilson today announced that Dr. Mary EllenTurpel-Lafond, a lawyer of the Muskeg Lake Cree Nation, has been
appointed a judge of the Provincial Court of Saskatchewan. Judge
Turpel-Lafond will preside in Saskatoon.
"I am pleased to announce this appointment," Nilson said. "Judge
Turpel-Lafond's brilliant career experience as a lawyer and an
educator will be invaluable to the people of Saskatchewan in her new
role as Provincial Court Judge."
Judge Turpel-Lafond was admitted to the Nova Scotia bar in 1990 and to
the Saskatchewan bar in 1993. She obtained a Bachelor of Laws from
Osgoode Hall Law School in 1985, a Masters in International Law from
Cambridge University in 1988 and her Doctorate of Law from Harvard Law
School in 1991.
Judge Turpel-Lafond has written extensively on Aboriginal and law
reform issues. She has taught law at Dalhousie School of Law, the
Faculty of Law at the University of Toronto, the University of
Saskatchewan College of Law and held a position as the Aboriginal
Scholar there, and Notre Dame Law School in South Bend, Indiana. She
was the first Aboriginal person to become a tenured professor of law
in Canada.
She has received many post-graduate research grants and awards,
such as the Nova Scotia Law Foundation grant for research on
Aboriginal peoples and international law and the Therese F.
Casgrain Fellowship, awarded by the Social Sciences and
Humanities Research Council of Canada, for research on women and
social change in Canada.
Prior to this appointment, Judge Turpel-Lafond practised law on
the Asimakaniseekan Askiy Reserve in Saskatoon.
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For more information, please contact:
Warren Bickford
Saskatchewan Justice
Regina
Phone: (306)787-8606