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Biography

Val Napoleon (Indigenous Peoples’ Counsel, LLB, PhD) is a Professor for the UVIC Faculty of Law and the Law Foundation Chair of Indigenous Justice and Governance, and the former Acting Dean of Law. She is the co-founder of JD/JID (Juris Doctor and Juris Indigenarum Doctor) dual law degree program in Indigenous legal orders and Canadian common law, and the founding director of the Indigenous Law Research Unit. She is Cree from Saulteau First Nation (BC Treaty 8) and an adopted member of the Gitanyow (northern Gitxsan). Her areas of teaching are Indigenous legal traditions and methodologies (e.g., land, water, governance and democracy, gender and human rights, and families), Indigenous legal theories, Indigenous feminisms, legal pluralism, Indigenous democracies, and Indigenous intellectual property. In the JD/JID, she teaches common law property combined with Gitxsan land and property.

Education

• LLB (Ó£»¨Ó°ÊÓ)
• PhD (Ó£»¨Ó°ÊÓ)

Selected Books

• An Imaginary for Our Sisters, book chapter for Jeffery Hewitt and Richard Moon, eds., Indigenous Spiritual Collection [provisional title], accepted, forthcoming 2025.
• Napoleon, Val, Taking Indigenous Law Seriously as Law in João Figueiredo and Sebastian Spitra, eds., The Missing Legal Pluralism of Heritage. Reconnecting Law and Material Culture with Marginalized and Indigenous Normative Knowledge (Muenster University, forthcoming 2025).
• Napoleon, Val and Debra McKenzie, eds., Intersocietal Pedagogies (working title), (University of Toronto Press, forthcoming 2025). 
• Napoleon, Val, Thinking Across Legal Divides, in Val Napoleon and Debra McKenzie, eds., Intersocietal Pedagogies (working title), (University of Toronto Press, forthcoming 2025).
• Val Napoleon, Emily Snyder, Rebecca Johnson, and Debra McKenzie, eds. Raven Talks: Indigenous Feminist Studies (University of Toronto Press, forthcoming, 2025).
• Napoleon, Val, Indigenous Women Talking: The Work of Indigenous Feminism in the World in Val Napoleon, Emily Snyder, Rebecca and Debra McKenzie, eds., Raven Talks: Indigenous Feminist Studies (University of Toronto, forthcoming 2025).
• Napoleon Val, Rebecca Johnson, Richard Overstall, and Debra McKenzie, Indigenous Intellectual Property: An Interrupted Intergenerational Conversation (University of Toronto Press, 2024).
• Napoleon, Val, The Octopus: What Might Constitute Indigenous Intellectual Property in Val Napoleon, Rebecca Johnson, Richard Overstall, and Debra McKenzie, Indigenous Intellectual Property: An Interrupted Intergenerational Conversation (University of Toronto Press, 2024).
• Napoleon, Val, Public Faces: Indigenous Law Today and Through the Futuristic Looking Glass, in Eoin Carolan, ed., The Making (and Re-making) of Public Law (provisional title), accepted, forthcoming (Ireland) 2024.
• Demanding More from Ourselves: Indigenous Civility and Incivility, in Dimitrios Karmis and Jocelyn Maclure, eds., Civic Freedom in an Age of Diversity (Montreal: McGill-Queens University Press, 2023).
• Gitxsan Legal Personhood: Gendered, in George Pavlich, ed., Interrupting the Legal Person (2022) Studies in Law, Politics, and Society, Vol.87A, 19-32.
• Gitxsan Democracy: On Its Own Terms, in James Tully et al, eds., Democratic Multiplicity (2022) Cambridge University Press, 15:4, 193-213.
• Val Napoleon and Emily Snyder, Housing on Reserve: Developing a Critical Indigenous Feminist Property Theory in Angela Cameron, Sari Graben, and Val Napoleon, eds., Creating Indigenous Property [University of Toronto Press, 2020].
• Cathy Bell and Val Napoleon, eds., First Nations Cultural Heritage and Law: Case Studies, Voices and Perspectives, Companion Volume (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2008).

Selected publications

• Expand the Boundaries of the Legal Universe and Place Indigenous Legal Decision-Making at its Center, Legalities (International Journal, 2025).
• Indigenous Citizenship and Civil Society: An Intervention (2024) Perspectives: A Broadbent Institute Journal.
• Comparative Perspectives: Engaging Productively Across Legal orders (May 2024) Special Issue, 98 Australian Law Journal 1.
• With Jo Shaw, Jacob Eisler, Jonathan Havercroft and Antje Wiener, After Trump Editorial, Global Constitutionalism, 10:1 (March 2021) 1-9.
• With Jeremy Webber, John Borrows and Michelle Fournier, Sally Engle Merry, Legal Pluralism, and the Radicalization of Comparative Law (2020) 44:4 Law and Society Review 846.
• Legal Pluralism and Reconciliation: Journey or Arrival (Nov. 2019) Maori Law Review.
• Did I Break It? Recording Indigenous (Customary) Law, PER/PELJ 2019 (22) 1.
• Indigenous Law (special invite, substantively revised version of Roots to Renaissance article published in 2014 in the Oxford Handbook of Criminal Law) 2017 Mouvement (French Journal, France) Martin Lamotte, ed.
• With Hadley Friedland, “An Inside Job: Engaging with Indigenous Legal Traditions through Stories” 2016 Special Issue, McGill Law Journal 725.
• “Tsilhqot’in Law of Consent”, in Joshua Nichols, ed., 2015 48:3 UBC Law Review Special Issue on Tsilhqot’in Nation 871.

Recognition and Awards

• 2025 King Charles III Coronation Medal

• 2024 Royal Society of Canada Yvan Allair Medal
• 2024 Honorary Doctorate in Law, University of Queens
• 2021 Honorary Doctorate in Law, University of Northern British Columbia
• 2021 Indspire Award (National) for Law and Justice
• 2020 Lawyer Monthly Legal National Award: Category Indigenous Law
• 2019 Lexpert Zenith Award, National Change Agent in Law
• 2016 Indigenous Peoples’ Council Award
• 2014 Ó£»¨Ó°ÊÓ’s inaugural Provost’s Engaged Scholar Award
• 2010 Ó£»¨Ó°ÊÓ’s Governor General’s Gold Medal for Outstanding Dissertation
• 2009 Aboriginal Justice Award, presented by the Aboriginal Law Students Association, University of Alberta
• 2001 The Harvey Bell Memorial Prize, Native Law Centre, Saskatoon
• 2001 The Honourable Thomas A. Dohm Shield Presentation, UVIC
• 2001 Ronald S. Nairne Memorial Award, UVIC
• 2001 Ó£»¨Ó°ÊÓ Bar Association Founder’s Committee Graduation Award

Grants

• All One Family Foundation - Indigenous Legal Research Support;
• Law Foundation of BC - Rebuilding Indigenous Legal Orders Pilot;
• SSHRC - Building Indigenous Legal Lodges: Restoring Access to Justice and Preventing Violence Against Indigenous Women, Girls, Trans, and Two-Spirit+;
• Law Foundation of BC - Indigenous Law Research Unit;
• NFRE Transformation Stream - Arramat: Biodiversity Conservation and the Health and Well-Being of Indigenous Peoples;  NFRE Transformation Stream - Arramat: Biodiversity Conservation and the Health and Well-Being of Indigenous Peoples; 
• NCTR national education project for schools on Indigenous law.
• IBA Indigenous law assessment toolkit.

Selected other work

• Indigenous Legal Resources for Gendered Violence, 2025.

• BC Youth Parliament, I was elected the honorary ‘Lieutenant Governor’ for two days in December 2023, and I participated in the opening and closing of the 95th Youth Parliament at the BC Legislature.
• Indigenous Legal Education (Video), Ministry of Education (April 4, 2023).
• Val Napoleon, Expert Report, West Moberly First Nations et al. v. Her Majesty the Queen in Right of the Province of British Columbia et al., Vancouver Registry S195070
• Indigenous Law (provisional title, 30-minute video), hosted by Garrick Apollon, UDocs/VoiDire Film and HotDocs, part of the Continuing Professional Education for the Ontario CLE.
• Home on Native Land (30-minute video), hosted by Ryan McMahon, Raventrust.
• Val Napoleon, Expert Report, Reference re Act Respective First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families, (2020) for Department of Justice.
• Raven Art Empowers Indigenous Women, Al Jezeera (short video, 95,000+ views).
• Disobedient Women, Original Paintings, Two Art Shows (2018) – (Legacy Gallery and UVIC Library Showing).
• Mikomosis and the Wetiko (2013) – A 34-page graphic narrative on Cree criminal law. This is currently taught in universities and colleges across Canada in law and other faculties. It is also widely used by communities generally and most often with youth. Recently, Mikomosis has been made into a short video, and a script is currently being written for a larger film production. 
• Kokum Raven Art Series (2012-present) – A series of paintings using ravens to explore critical questions about Indigenous law, Canadian state law, and their intersections.

Special Projects

• Next Steps: Rebuilding Indigenous Legal Orders Initiative - this initiative seeks to support Indigenous peoples in their efforts to strengthen and rebuild their own legal orders in their own lands.

Courses

• LAW 343: Indigenous Intellectual Property
• LAW 107I:Transsystemic Property Laws
• LAW 109B-2: Property Law
• LAW 388A: Indigenous Laws: Research, Method and Practice
• LAW 343: Indigenous Law: Theory and Practice of Selected Indigenous Legal Orders in B.C.
• LAW 343: Critical Issues in Restorative Justice
• LAW 343-A07: Theorizing and Working Across Legal Orders
• LAW 340: Indigenous Lands, Rights, and Governments
• LAW 368: Indigenous Feminist Legal Studies

Graduate supervision

Prof. Val Napoleon is interested in supervising graduate students working on Indigenous legal traditions, Indigenous legal theory, Indigenous feminism, citizenship, self-determination, and governance.