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Biography

Dr. Sarah Morales (Su-taxwiye) is Coast Salish and a member of the Cowichan Tribes. She is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law, Associate Dean Indigenous, and Director of the JD/JID Program. 

Sarah's research focuses on Indigenous legal traditions—particularly those of the Coast Salish peoples—as well as Aboriginal law and human rights. Her scholarship is grounded in the laws and snuw’uyulh (teachings) of the Hul’qumi’num Mustimuhw. 

She has been actively involved in nation-building efforts, the recognition of inherent rights and jurisdiction, and the advancement of international human rights law relating to Indigenous peoples. Her work with her own community and other Coast Salish nations has included child and welfare legislative reform, the development of community safety and well-being policies, Indigenous governance planning, and supporting negotiations around complex issues involving privately held fee-simple lands by centering Hul’qumi’num law and land tenure systems. 

Selected recent publications

• Ekers, S. Morales and E. Van Wagner, “From ‘Private’ Managed Forest Lands to Sts’lunuts’amat Forest Relations: Indigenous jurisdiction, ecological integrity, and fee simple title on Vancouver Island” (2024) Justice, Ecology, Law and Place (formerly Journal of Environmental Law and Practice).
• Katarina Sawchuck, Heidi Kiiwetinepinesiik Stark and Sarah Morales, “SIIA-CIRCLE 2024 Gathering Report” (South Island Indigenous Authority, 2024).
• Morales, “Blanketing”: Justice for First Nations Peoples in Canada (Department of Justice, Government of Canada, 2023).
• Morales, “Su-taxwiye: Keeping my Name Clean” in J. Borrows & K. McNeil, eds., Voicing Identity: Cultural Appropriation and Indigenous Issues (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2022).
• Morales, “Indigenous Legal Responses to Hate Incidents: A Coast Salish Case Study” (British Columbia’s Office of the Human Rights Commissioner, 2022).
• Graben, A. Cameron & S. Morales, “Gender Impact Analysis of Impact Benefit Agreements: Representation Clauses and the UNDRIP” in Ibironke T. Odumosu-Ayanu & D. Newman, eds., Indigenous-Industry Agreements, Natural Resources and the Law (New York: Routledge, 2021).
• Morales & B. Thom, “The Principle of Sharing and the Shadow of Canadian Property Law” in A. Cameron, S. Graben & V. Napoleon, eds., Creating Indigenous Property: Power, Rights, and Relationships (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2020).

Education

• JD – Ó£»¨Ó°ÊÓ

• LLM – University of Arizona

• PhD – Ó£»¨Ó°ÊÓ
• PostDoc - University of Illinois

Courses

• Law 106: The Legal Process
• Law 109: Torts

Graduate supervision