Episode 20: Brad Regehr - The First Indigenous President of the Canadian Bar Association

This September Brad Regehr made history, becoming the first First Nations President of the Canadian Bar Association. A partner at Maurice Law in Winnipeg, the first and only indigenous owned national law firm in Canada, he has focused on civil litigation, aboriginal, corporate and administrative law. He has represented and advised First Nations clients on natural resource projects, land claims, flooding and tax agreements. And he is a past President of the Manitoba Bar association. As an infant Regehr was adopted by a non-indegenous family and raised in Winnipeg. Though, unlike many first nations children taken in the 60’s scoop who had horrible experiences, he says “I was one of the lucky ones. I got adopted into a loving, caring family.” And he has since reconnected with his biological family in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. He and National Chief Perry Bellegarde discuss the impact of his adoption and the sixties scoop on his decision to go into the law, the importance of the recognition of indigenous, customary law as one of the pillars of Canada's legal system, why the UN Declaration on the Rights Indigenous People needs to be implemented in Canada, the importance of First Nations people being in senior leadership positions and more.A big thanks goes out to the Red Dog Singers of Treaty 4 Territory in Saskatchewan for our theme music.The Ahkameyimok Podcast is produced by David McGuffin of Explore Podcast Productions.