You are invited to attend the Chief Justice Thane A. Campbell Lectureship in Law, featuring Cindy Blackstock, PhD, Executive Director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society.

After First Nations children won: the struggle to remedy Canada’s systemic discrimination 

In 2016, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal issued a landmark decision in First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada et al. v. Attorney General of Canada (File No. T1340/7008), finding that Canada discriminated against First Nations children in the provision of child and family services and in its implementation of Jordan’s Principle (2016 CHRT 2). In 2019, the Tribunal found that this discrimination was “wilful and reckless” and a “worst-case scenario” (2019 CHRT 39). Although Canada publicly welcomed the 2016 ruling, the Tribunal has since issued over 30 non-compliance and procedural orders. This talk examines the struggle to obtain and sustain Canada’s compliance with those orders, and what is at stake for First Nations children, youth and families and for the broader human rights system.

Date: Tuesday, November 17, 2026
Time: 5:00 p.m.
Location: Schurman Market Square, Don and Marion McDougall Hall

The Series

The Chief Justice Thane A. Campbell Lectureship in Law is co-sponsored by the University of Prince Edward Island and the Law Foundation of Prince Edward Island.

In 1991, the Law Foundation of Prince Edward Island created an endowment at the University of Prince Edward Island to provide a stimulating series of lectures to be held throughout the province on a regular basis. The lecture series was named the Chief Justice Thane A. Campbell Lectureship in Law to honour Thane A. Campbell, Rhodes Scholar, former Premier of Prince Edward Island, and first Chancellor of the University of Prince Edward Island.

The first lecture took place in 1993, and the series has continued over the years with guest speakers such as Chief Justice Antonio Lamer, Justice Joseph Ghiz, Justice Gerard LaForest, Justice Anne Derrick, Supreme Court Justice the Honorable Thomas Cromwell, Marie Henein, Professor Anne LaForest, Noa Mendelsohn Aviv, and James Lockyer.