Our Team

Called to the bar in 2023, Hero is a Senior Researcher with the Wahkohtowin Law & Governance Lodge and is pursuing an LLM at the University of Alberta. With over 15 years of experience in organizations from the grassroots to the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat at the Government of Canada, Hero has worked with many groups on law and social systems reform. They currently serve on the leadership teams of Volunteer Alberta, the River City Venture Clinic and the Digital Law & Innovation Society. Previously, they co-founded Connect the Sector, acted as a start-up staff member of the Ontario Nonprofit Network, and co-founded the River Valley Free School, a skills sharing community in Amiskwacîwâskahikan / Edmonton, on Treaty 6 territory, where they live. You can find Hero hanging out with rocks and trees, meditating, making art and cuddling with family. Pronouns: they/them

Sarah re-joins the Wahkohtowin Law & Governance Lodge as legal counsel after spending some time in private practice where she gained experience in family law, child welfare, civil claims, real estate, estate planning, and employment law. Sarah summered with the Lodge as a Research Assistant during law school, and was our first Articling student as part of a composite Article with the Lodge and Schnell Hardy Jones LLP. She continues to maintain a limited child welfare practice focused on public interest and Indigenous child welfare matters.

Sarah is an advocate for equity issues and has written or co-written articles and reports on the topics of access to justice, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action, child support in Indigenous families, health information laws and OCAP® principles, and the rights of youth aging out of government care. In 2020-2021, Sarah was co-lead of the award-winning ReconciliAction YEG blog run by students of the University of Alberta Faculty of Law.

Sarah is community and relationship minded and currently serves as co-chair of the Board of Directors for Habitat for Humanity Red Deer Region, and as a Director on the Central Alberta Bar Society Board of Directors. Upon commencement of her Articling term in Red Deer, she co-founded an informal Newcomers association with other students to encourage newcomers to the Central Alberta Bar to get to know one another as well as the local judiciary and the various legal services available in the community.

Since graduating with a JD from the University of Alberta in 2021, Sarah has volunteered on a case committee for the Women’s Legal Education Action Fund (LEAF), worked as a teaching assistant for the Launchpad into Law program for Indigenous Law students entering their first year of legal studies at various law schools, co-developed a children’s resource for the Wahkohtowin Law and Governance Lodge to help Indigenous children in care understand their rights, and co-presented on Indigenous Issues in Wills and Estates for CBA Alberta.

Michael is a lodge research assistant and 3rd year law student who lives in Edmonton, Treaty 6. He is passionate about advancing the interests of Indigenous people and excited to be working at the Lodge.

Outside of work, Michael enjoys taking pictures, riding bike and being outdoors. He serves on the board of the Society of Northern Alberta Print-Artists.

Rebekah (Bex) is Cree from Waterhen Lake First Nation in Treaty 6, and German with other unknown settler origins. Born in Treaty 1, she lived in four different Treaty areas growing up.

Rebekah studied physics at the University of Alberta. After much consideration, she decided to go to law school with the desire to increase equity in the justice system, to work with Indigenous communities to revitalize Indigenous laws, and to positively impact the environment.

Rebekah volunteers with the Old Strathcona Youth Society (OSYS), and is a member of the court of the University of Alberta Students’ Union. Rebekah was a committee member for the Indigenous Law Students’ Association (ILSA) Speaker Series 2023. She is currently the internal co-chair for ILSA, and is a co-Vice President of OUTlaw.

Rebekah loves outdoor activities, playing guitar and will read almost anything.

Neal Ruth is a status member of Missanabie Cree First Nation (Treaty 9 Territory) but has spent most of his life in Edmonton. He is a Juris Doctor candidate (2025) who just finished his first year of law school and is a research assistant at the Wahkohtowin Law and Governance Lodge.

Neal started his career as an automotive mechanic while also serving in the Canadian Armed Reserve Forces from 2006 to 2011 and completed his Journeyman and Red Seal Certification at NAIT in 2013. After eight years of working as an automotive mechanic, Neal became a heavy-duty mechanic in 2016. In 2019 Neal started his BBA at NAIT while still working full-time and completed it in 2021 with honours.

Neal is passionate about Indigenous issues and was a volunteer with the Indigenous Law Students’ Association (ILSA) in his first year of law school, working on the 2023 Speaker Series. He is now the Speaker Series Co-Chair for the 2023/24 year and is excited to be hosting the Speaker Series as part of the ILSA executive team. He is grateful to be able to give back to the community while continuing to learn from his peers and share in the laughter that is always happening at the Lodge. Neal also volunteered with the Sports Law Association and participated in the Hockey Arbitration Competition in his first year of law school.

Outside of law school Neal is passionate about sports and animals. He is always willing to talk about sports and is a die-hard Oilers fan. He participates in many different sports and enjoys being outdoors in any way possible. He has two cats named Tux and Bonzai, and he loves to talk about them. He also enjoys listening to others talk about their pets/show him pictures of their pets.

Siobhan is a member of the Métis Nation of Alberta, and has grown up in Treaty 6 Territory. She is a Juris Doctor candidate who has just finished second year, and is excited to be a research assistant for the Wahkohtowin Law and Governance Lodge. Siobhan is passionate about Indigenous, queer, and feminist issues. She has been part of the Indigenous Law Students' Association (ILSA) as a general member, the Administration and Coordination Co-Chair, and now the External Co-Chair. Many of her favourite law school memories have revolved around experiences and relationships built through ILSA and the Lodge, and she is grateful to continue learning from, and working with, Indigenous peers, leaders, teachers, and allies. In the summer her favourite places to be are playing rugby with friends and spending time with family at the lake.

Casey will be completing her articles with the Wahkohtowin Law and Governance Lodge and the Alberta Court of Appeal, as well as undertaking a clerkship with the Supreme Court of Canada.

Casey is a Cree and Dene iskwew from Fort Nelson First Nation but currently raises her two young daughters alongside her husband in Edmonton, AB. She is a recent graduate of the University of Alberta Juris Doctor program, an articling student with Wahkohtowin Law & Governance Lodge, and Special Project Governance Coordinator and legal researcher for her nation.

Her passion is in the pursuit of reducing systemic inequalities and barriers to access from grassroots to global. This has led her to many community circles including as the outgoing Co-Chair External of the Indigenous Law Student Association, Indigenous Bar Association Student Representative with the National Indigenous Law Students Association, a board member for the Grande Prairie Friendship Centre, and as co-founder of The Medicine Box Project and Waniska Leaders which bring both Indigenous and non-Indigenous participants together in traditional knowledge revitalization. This work has gifted her with the opportunity to speak in engagements from the Youth G7 Summit to the United Nations Environmental Programme. It is truly an honour to have found a home and a family in all of her work.

Gavin is a Treaty 11, status, band member of the Liidlii Kue First Nation located in Fort Simpson, from the Dehcho region of the Northwest Territories.

Gavin is passionate about family, the reclamation of a voice through educational environments, Indigenous advocacy, and Indigenous legal assertion.

In the legal academic setting, he has worked towards fair representation in this type of system to make small - but meaningful - change towards healing, expansion of opportunities, and Indigenous legal preservation. He has had a seat on Indigenous committees, worked within varying Indigenous communities, and was previously a first-year representative on the Indigenous Law Students’ Association (ILSA) (2020/21), ILSA Representative on the Law Students’ Association (2021/22), and Chair of ILSA (2022/23).

Now Gavin is an articling student with the Wahkohtowin Law and Governance Lodge, and seeks to develop a career in Indigenous law, self-governance, negotiation, Indigenizing colonial Western common law, and legal advocacy through a multi-juridical approach.

Born in 1944, an Anishinaabe member of the Wiikwemikoong Unceded Indian Reserve on Manitoulin Island, Ontario. Educated at University of Waterloo (B.A.Sc. Electrical Engineering 1971); University of Alberta (LL.B. 1982); Native Studies, University of Alberta (M.A. 2021)

Called to the Alberta Bar in 1983. Established the Law Firm of Mandamin and Associates in 1985 representing First Nations, Indigenous organizations and individuals. Appeared as counsel before the Alberta Queen’s Bench and Provincial Courts and before the Supreme Court of Canada (R. v. Badger), Saskatchewan Court of Appeal (R. v. Wolfe) and the Indian Claims Commission (Cold Lake First Nations Primrose Claim).

Faculty Co-ordinator for Aboriginal Justice Seminars at the Banff School of Management 1991-94 and Adjunct Professor at the University of Alberta School of Native Studies 1988-92. Commissioner and Chairperson of the Edmonton Police Commission 1991-1995 and President of the Canadian Native Friendship Centre in Edmonton, Alberta (1990).

Provincial Court Judge in the Provincial Court of Alberta (1999 - 2007). Presided in the Tsuu T’ina Court which involved First Nation peacemaking and in the Siksika Court which also involved traditional Indigenous resolution. Judge of the Federal Court 2007. Chaired the Federal Court Aboriginal Law Liaison Committee. Retired from Federal Court August 19, 2019.

Awards: 1996 Aboriginal Justice Award by Aboriginal Law Students Association, University of Alberta; 1999 Four Eagle Feathers (traditional Indigenous award) presented by Family, First Nations, and Indigenous individuals; 2007 awarded traditional naming ceremonies by both Tsuut’ina and Siksika, 2018 Doctor of Laws Honoris Causa by Law Society of Ontario; 2019 Indigenous Peoples’ Counsel by Indigenous Bar Association.

Currently Counsel with Witten LLP, Edmonton. Scholar-in-Residence at Wahkohtowin Law and Governance Lodge at the University of Alberta.