Feminist Strategic Litigation: A Method of Advancing Indigeneous Gender Equality in Canada?

This working paper examines the use of law as a stra­tegy for advancing gender equality, Indigenous rights, and reconciliation in Canada. It fo­cuses on the work of the Women’s Legal Edu­cation and Action Fund (LEAF) to explore the tension be­tween law as a tool of oppression and as a po­tential means of trans­formation. To this end, the paper asks how sys­temic change can be pursued through a legal system that has itself been, and con­tinues to be, a central instrument of colonial governance and po­litical violence. The paper traces LEAF’s develop­ment and its practice of Feminist Strategic Litigation (FSL), paying particular attention to its en­gagement with the rights of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people. Drawing on LEAF’s liti­gation and advocacy concerning colonial laws, the treatment of Indi­genous people within the justice system, and violence against Indigenous women and girls, the paper re­flects on the achievements and limi­tations of the application of FSL. Thus, it considers LEAF’s evolving practice as a lens through which to assess the possibilities and contra­dictions of pursuing re­conciliation and decolonization using the law. Through this lens, the paper illustrates the ambi­guity of LEAF’s role as an agent of transformation in postcolonial Canada.