John Borrows facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
John Borrows
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| Kegedonce (Anishinaabe) | |
Borrows in 2019
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| Born | 1963 (age 61–62) |
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| Occupation | Lawyer, academic |
| Known for | Canadian Indigenous law |
| Title | Professor at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law |
John Borrows, also known as Kegedonce in the Anishinaabe language, is a Canadian expert in law and a university professor. He is a full Professor of Law at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. He holds the Loveland Chair in Indigenous Law there. Professor Borrows is famous for his knowledge of Canadian Indigenous law and how the country's laws work. Even the highest court in Canada, the Supreme Court of Canada, has used his ideas in their decisions. John Borrows is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
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Early Life and Learning
John Borrows is Anishinaabe (Ojibwe). He is a member of the Chippewas of the Nawash First Nation in Ontario, Canada.
He grew up near the Cape Croker reserve. This area is on Georgian Bay in Ontario. His mother ran away to avoid being sent to a residential school. These schools were places where Indigenous children were forced to go. Borrows says his mother taught him about Indigenous laws. She shared this knowledge while they farmed their family land. His uncle was a former chief. One great-grandfather was a long-serving councillor. His great-great-grandfather signed a land treaty with the Crown.
Borrows studied politics and history at the University of Toronto. He earned a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts degree. Later, he studied law at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. He received his Doctor of Law and Master of Laws degrees there. He also earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree from Osgoode Hall Law School. While at Osgoode, he started a program. It helps Indigenous law students from different countries exchange ideas. This program is still active today.
Professor and Legal Expert
John Borrows has taught law at several universities. He has also helped create important legal programs.
Early Teaching Career
From 1992 to 1998, Borrows taught at the University of British Columbia Faculty of Law. He was the first director of First Nations Legal Studies there. During this time, he helped start a legal clinic. This clinic provides legal help to Indigenous people in Vancouver. It is still helping people today.
From 1998 to 2001, Borrows taught at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. He helped start the June Callwood program in Aboriginal law. In 1999, he worked in Nunavut, Canada's newest territory. He helped build its legal system. He also taught at the Akitsiraq Law School. This was a temporary law school branch of the University of Victoria Faculty of Law.
Work at University of Victoria
In 2001, Borrows joined the University of Victoria Faculty of Law (UVic). He taught there for most of the next ten years. By 2003, he became the Law Foundation chair in Aboriginal justice at UVic. He also taught at other universities around the world. These included the University of Melbourne and the University of Waikato Law School in New Zealand. He also taught at the University of Minnesota in the United States.
In 2015, Borrows returned to the University of Victoria. In 2017, he became the Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Law.
Return to University of Toronto
In 2022, Borrows moved back to the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. He became the first Loveland Chair in Indigenous Law.
Creating New Law Programs
Borrows, along with his colleague Val Napoleon, helped create a special law program. It is at the University of Victoria Faculty of Law. This program lets students study both Canadian common law and Indigenous legal traditions. It was the first program of its kind in a Canadian law school. The program takes four years to complete. It welcomed its first students in the fall of 2018.
Borrows has also been involved in Indigenous Law programs at other universities. These include Osgoode Hall, the University of Windsor Faculty of Law, Western Law, and McGill University Faculty of Law. He has also been a visiting professor at many universities.
His Impact on Law
John Borrows is a leading expert in Canadian Indigenous law. He is also an expert in constitutional law. The Supreme Court of Canada has used his ideas many times in their decisions.
Pamela Palmater, a professor at Toronto Metropolitan University, says Borrows has changed how Indigenous law is studied. She credits him and other scholars with a big shift. In the past, people studied how Canadian law applied to Indigenous peoples. Now, thanks to their work, people study actual Indigenous law itself.
Awards and Recognitions
John Borrows has received many awards for his important legal work.
He won a National Aboriginal Achievement Award. He has also been a Fellow of the Trudeau Foundation. He is also a Fellow of the Academy of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada (RSC). This is part of the Royal Society of Canada, which is Canada's highest academic honor. In 2012, he received the Indigenous Peoples Counsel (I.P.C.) award. This award is from the Indigenous Bar Association.
In 2017, Borrows won the Killam Prize for Social Science. In 2018, he was named one of the twenty-five most influential lawyers in Canada.
Borrows has also received several honorary degrees. These are special degrees given to people who have achieved great things. One was from Dalhousie University. In 2018, he received an honorary doctorate from York University.
In 2021, Borrows was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. This is one of the highest honors a Canadian citizen can receive.
