News

Reinvigorating St’át’imc Stories

October 22-23, 2024

Whistler, BC – The St’át’imc Chiefs Council, in partnership with the Indigenous Law Research Unit (ILRU), hosted a two-day workshop, The St’át’imc Law Initiative, from October 22–23, 2024, in Whistler, BC. This event brought together 35 participants, including St’át’imc Nation staff, members, and a quorum of Chiefs, for collaborative engagement with St’át’imc narratives, primarily drawn from Lillooet Stories.

The ILRU curated a casebook featuring story analyses and exercises to explore St’át’imc values, legal principles, decision-making processes, pathways, structures, and responses.

Participants were introduced to ILRU’s approaches for understanding and working with Indigenous laws, focusing on the rearticulation and implementation of these laws. Through interactive discussions, participants explored theories and debates surrounding Indigenous law.

The workshop included hands-on exercises, where participants applied ILRU methods to extract legal principles and processes from oral narratives. Using St’át’imc legends featured in the casebook, participants examined how these principles could address contemporary challenges.

By the conclusion of the workshop, participants either strengthened or gained a deeper understanding of St’át’imc law and how ILRU’s methods could help advance the Nation’s legal framework.

Looking ahead, The St’át’imc Law Initiative plans to engage more deeply with the St’át’imc membership through webinars and community outreach. These efforts will focus on reintroducing Nation-level documents on St’át’imc law to spark dialogue and strengthen nationhood.

About the Indigenous Law Research Unit (ILRU)
The ILRU is an academic research unit dedicated to revitalizing Indigenous laws.
For more information, please visit ilru.ca.

For inquiries about the St’át’imc Law Initiative, please contact: