Indigenousmatters THE HONOURABLE JUDGE ALEXANDER WOLF
Where Did My Crystal Ball Go?
I
have had a lot of jobs. I was a stockboy in a Kmart; I’ve built windows in a factory. I have worked as a ditch digger, hotel desk clerk, bathroom janitor, machinist, assistant funeral director, sandwich maker, dishwasher, and the list goes on.
Why did I choose Dalhousie? It was not because Dalhousie is the best law school, although ask any Dal graduate which school is the best and they will not be shy on sharing their opinion. I chose Dal, because it was old. Somehow, I equated “old” with “good.”
However, ever since I was 15, I dreamed of studying politics in Ottawa and going to Dalhousie Law School. The only reason I went to law school was to be an insurance litigator working for big Insurance companies. (I am still not sure why people roll their eyes when I tell them that). It should be noted that I grew up in an environment where nobody was cheering you on to finish high school, let alone go to law school.
One of my professors, who will remain nameless, (Mary Ellen TurpelLafonde), took me on as a bit of a special project. She sent me to
In the mid 80s, I fled from my home province on my motorcycle. I was doing what any uneducated, longhaired rebel with a cause and two chips on his shoulder would do. I joined the Air Force. My theory was that I could learn skills that would allow me to work my way through university. I had already dropped out of acting school, unaware I could have asked for a student loan to help with tuition. I was broke. My shortlived military career was not a bad decision. I gained office skills and worked as a secretary, administrative assistant, legal researcher, and paralegal throughout my university years. I did study politics in Ottawa — but fell in love with Anthropology — the study of culture. As time went on, I had a thirst for law and culture. Here comes the legal career whirlwind. 14 BARTALK / JUNE 2022
the Philippines to spend time in a Tribal Legal Aid Clinic where I was exposed to new ways of thinking about the law and had the time of my life. I was excited by the idea of being a lawyer in other countries and postponed my dream of becoming a Bay Street insurance litigator. Next stop? I transitioned into a Human Rights Management Internship with the Aga Khan Foundation and off to New Delhi where I studied Indian Law at the New Delhi Jesuit Institute of Law. After receiving this “social activist” training, I worked with Jesuit lawyers in a city called Ahmedabad. There is no reason to know this small
Indian city — it only has a population of about eight million. We focused on cases called “atrocities.” Not just beatings, rapes, and murders, but crimes committed for cultural reasons. Often these crimes were committed on the relatively unheard of population of tribals or “Adivasis” (literally meaning “Indigenous” peoples). Their population is officially over 100 million — but thought to be much more. Eventually, I came back to my dream and articled in a Toronto boutique insurance litigation firm. I loved the work but wanted to be in court more and joined the Federal Department of Justice (“DOJ”). For me, transitioning from India and parachuting into the role of a drug prosecutor in Toronto wasn’t filling my desire to mix law and culture. My journey with the DOJ took me from Toronto to the Yukon where I was in court every day and able to work with communities. I remember being the Crown in any number of lengthy, highly moving peacemaking circles. My time in the Yukon taught me a lot about Indigenous peoples and how mainstream institutions and communities can work together. After that I spent a little time on Residential school cases as a civil litigator and as managing lawyer to an Indigenous Poverty Legal Aid office in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver. Alas, I yearned for more international legal stimulation. So, I did
