Our Team

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 former dean. 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 (ILRU). 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.

Lana Lowe, Executive Director, is Dene from the Fort Nelson First Nation. She has over 25 years’ experience working with Indigenous organizations and communities. With an extensive background in environmental governance, Indigenous resurgence and community and land-based research, Lana holds a Masters in Indigenous Governance and is currently a PhD candidate in Law at the University of Victoria, focusing on engaging Dene legal thinking through community dialogues. Lana brings a deep personal and professional commitment to advancing Indigenous self-determination through the revitalization of Indigenous intellectual traditions. Lana’s dedication and expertise are instrumental in driving the mission of the Next Steps initiative forward. 

Laura Hamilton grew up in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains on the lands of the Aseniwuche Winewak Nation. Since 2021, she has lived and worked in Victoria, BC on the historic territories of the lək̓ʷəŋən peoples, where she has been an integral part of the Faculty of Law at the University of Victoria, first serving as Assistant to the Dean before being asked to join Dr. Val Napoleon in her expanding work in Indigenous law. Laura’s professional journey began in the hospitality industry, where she gained extensive experience through diverse roles in the airline and hotel sectors. These roles sharpened her strengths in collaboration, service excellence, event planning, and community engagement; skills she now brings to her work with the Next Steps: Rebuilding Indigenous Law initiative. Laura is Métis on her mother’s side, with English and Scottish settler roots on her father’s side.

Rebecca Johnson is a Professor for the UVic Faculty of Law, and Associate Director of the Indigenous Law Research Unit (ILRU). She has a background in music, management, law, and literature (BMus, MBA, LLB, LLM, SJD). She grew up in Calgary in a family of storytellers, and story is central to her work. A lifelong love of music and movies has left her curious about the performative parts of social and legal storytelling, including sight, sound, and the body. She teaches in the JD and JD/JID programs (Graduate Legal Theory; Intersocietal Business Associations, Indigenous Research Methodology; Inuit Law and Film; Cultural Property), where she is nourished by the pleasures (and challenges) of being a non-Indigenous scholar working in collaboration with others at the intersection of Indigenous and common law legal orders. She spends part of each summer with her extended family in Secwepemcúl’ecw, where she grounds (literally) her theoretical interests in a world of practice, by sitting with her hands in clay at the pottery wheel.