Aboriginal Justice Inquiry collection is presented to the E. K. Williams Law Library

from Recently at UML… A News Release from the University of Manitoba Libraries, March 1992, News Release No. 5

On March 11, 1992, a ceremony was held at the E. K. Williams Law Library to officially accept the gift of the library collection from the Manitoba Public Inquiry into the Administration of Justice and Aboriginal People.

The collection of approximately 1,200 items includes government reports, studies, unpublished papers, as well as published material, and covers a wide range of topics to issues of aboriginal justice: prison, myth and legend, land claims, police, aboriginal courts, and self-government. The material was collected mostly from North America, but also includes foreign and comparative material dealing with aboriginal issues in other countries, such as Australia and New Zealand. It also includes the transcripts of the community hearings: the verbatim record of public hearings held in approximately 30 Manitoba communities, and summaries of the 790 presentations made to the Commission, including a subject index. In addition, there are 42 independent studies prepared for the Commission, covering various aspects of the relationship between the justice system and aboriginal peoples of Manitoba.

This gift collection augments the existing resources of the E. K. Williams Law Library and the University of Manitoba Libraries, and marks a major contribution in the development of a strong research collection to support initiatives by the Faculty of Law and the University of Manitoba in Aboriginal Justice and Native Studies.

Special mention must be made of the work of Wanda Chandler, a former staff member in the E. K. Williams Law Library, who was seconded part-time for a year and half to the Inquiry, and did much to integrate the building of the collection with the material held by the E. K. Williams Law Library, as well as acting as the link between the resources of the University of Manitoba and the Inquiry’s researchers.

The ceremony was attended by representatives from the Faculty of Law, the University of Manitoba Libraries, the University of Manitoba, as well as the two commissioners from the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry, Associate Chief Justice A. C. Hamilton and Associate Chief Judge C. M. Sinclair.