About Us
Who We Are
The BearPaw Legal Education & Resource Centre (BearPaw Education) is a program offered by Native Counselling Services of Alberta and funded by the Alberta Law Foundation aimed at helping Aboriginal people navigate the legal system and gain awareness of their legal rights.
In spite a growing number of legal programs, facilities and professionals working to enhance Aboriginal people’s access to justice, significant gaps in legal knowledge still exist among Alberta’s Aboriginal population, hindering their capacity to seek justice in the court system.* In addition, with an ever-changing legal landscape, Aboriginal people are often uninformed about new legislation that directly impacts them, again placing them at a disadvantage.
The BearPaw Legal Education & Resource Centre represents the next step in the evolution of legal education services in Alberta by Native Counselling Services of Alberta.
Our Mandate
The BearPaw Education's mandate is to promote awareness of the legal rights and obligations of Aboriginal people living in Alberta and to enhance Aboriginal peoples’ connection and access to justice.
Our goals are:
- To contribute to the legal education and knowledge of the Aboriginal people of Alberta and provide programs and facilities for these purposes;
- To increase NCSA’s capacity for the collection, translation, facilitation and distribution of legal information;
- To create a central clearinghouse of accessible, user-friendly legal education resources for Aboriginal people in Alberta;
- To increase the legal resources available to Aboriginal people of Alberta through a targeted multi-method distribution strategy.
What We Offer
The BearPaw Education provides public legal education and information specifically designed by and for Aboriginal people, focusing on areas of the law that are of special significance to Aboriginal people. We offer the following services:
- A website with links to legal information and resources
- Workshops for communities, schools and organizations.
- Information brochures and fact sheets
- Video podcast downloads
*The need for further legal education and information was identified at the Alberta Summit on Justice (1999) and re-affirmed by the Alberta Aboriginal Legal Education Needs Survey (2006-2007).
