Valarie Waboose
LLB, LLM, PhD
Associate Professor, Windsor Law
Director of the Indigenous Legal Orders Institute, Windsor Law
Valarie Waboose is an Associate Professor at Windsor Law. Her areas of specialization include Indigenous legal traditions, the legacy of residential schools, and the ways in which First Nations within Canada reconcile with their past.
Dr. Waboose is a member of the Three Fires Midewiwin Society and is interested in conducting research and expanding knowledge in the areas of Anishinabe Indigenous knowledge and Indigenous research methodologies. Her Indigenous knowledge is interwoven with the pedagogical methodologies she utilizes within the classroom setting. As an Anishinabe Kwe, she believes in sharing her knowledge with non-Indigenous students so that they can better serve their clients when they enter the legal profession. Her research interests also include the uncovering of the mass graves and unmarked burials of Indigenous children found at Residential Schools across Canada.
Dr. Waboose graduated from Windsor Law in 1993 and was called to the Ontario Bar in 1995. She completed an LLM in Alternative Dispute Resolution at Osgoode Hall Law School in 1999.
From 1996 to 2002, Dr. Waboose worked as In-House Legal Counsel to the Walpole Island First Nation (Bkejwanong Territory). In 2002, she moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts to attend the Program on Negotiation. Upon returning home, she established a consultation business specializing in policy development, strategic planning, program planning and evaluation, pre-employment training, and life skills coaching.
In 2016, Dr. Waboose completed a PhD in Indigenous Studies at Trent University. She joined Windsor Law in July of that year. Dr. Waboose is delighted to be working at the law school from which she graduated and hopes to see many Indigenous students pass through the doors of Windsor Law while she is here.