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7:00 PM
Kinsella Auditorium

Christa Big Canoe will be delivering the lecture "All That Was Left Were Footprints in the Sand" as part of the Vigod Memorial Lecture in Human Rights on Wednesday, October 14 at 7:00 PM in the Kinsella Auditorium.

Christa Big Canoe was the lead Prosecutor against Canada for crimes against humanity and genocide before the Permanent Peoples Tribunal in May 2026, and the Lead Commission Counsel for the National Inquiry into Missing Indigenous Women and Girls. In her talk, she will address the solutions that have been offered and how Canada keeps failing to implement them at the peril of Indigenous people’s human rights.

“The stealing of Indigenous children and forcing them into Indian residential schools in law, policy and with force, is enforced disappearance in international law. It is even more difficult when children never returned from the schools because of death, often without proper notice and with so many unanswered questions. To call this anything less than genocide is to be willfully blind.”

Christa Big Canoe is an Anishinabek woman, mother and lawyer, and a member of Georgina Island First Nation. She has been the Legal Director of Aboriginal Legal Services since 2011, and was Senior and then Lead Commission Counsel to the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. Christa has been before all levels of court, including the Supreme Court of Canada, represents families at Inquests, and has been before various tribunals providing Indigenous perspective and representation. She passionately advocates for Indigenous women and children in multiple forums and legal processes.