Writing About Indigenous Peoples in the Canadian Legal Context: An Interview With Kelti McGloin

This month I interviewed Kelti McGloin, our brilliant Library Intern at the Sir James Dunn Law Library, about the development of her style guide, Best Practices for Writing About Indigenous Peoples in the Canadian Legal Context: An Evolving Style Guide for the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University.

Share a bit about your background and interests.

I am currently a Juris Doctor and Master of Information candidate at Dalhousie University’s Schulich School of Law expecting to graduate in spring 2026. Before attending law school, I spent a year at the University of King’s College and finished my undergraduate degree in sociology at Toronto Metropolitan University.

I’ve had a passion for social justice since I was a teenager and knew very early on that I wanted to build a career in where I could advocate on behalf of marginalized individuals and communities. Somewhere along the way I decided that the best way to do this was by working in law and policy. I’m a Maritimer, so applying to Dalhousie for law school was a no-brainer.

During my first year of law school in 2022, I started working part time at the Sir James Dunn Law Library. I immediately saw how librarians play a vital role in empowering all actors in the legal system – from students, to practitioners, to judges, to laypeople. By observing law librarians and asking them about their work, I developed a real sense that information access and literacy is vital to realizing meaningful access to justice. I knew right away that I wanted to be part of this.

Luckily, Dalhousie offers the opportunity to pursue an ALA-accredited Master of Information alongside a law degree. I decided to apply to the MI program in the winter of 1L and was thankfully accepted into the program! While this pushed my expected date of graduation up by one year, I knew that the skills gained in pursuing a dual degree would open doors for me and ultimately benefit my practice as a legal professional.

What is the origin of the Best Practices for Writing About Indigenous Peoples in the Canadian Legal Context?

I developed a serious interest in Aboriginal law during my first year of law school and was fortunate to secure a position as a research assistant for Professor Naiomi Metallic during summer 2023. My main duties in this role were supporting the launch of Abajignmuen, an access to justice website that highlights student and faculty work about Aboriginal law. The projects showcased on the site present Aboriginal law topics in plain language and in diverse engaging formats – blogposts, pamphlets, infographics, and even podcasts are featured.

A significant part of my work on the website was editing written projects. While doing this, I noticed that there was a lot of variability in language, grammar, and conventions. Although some things were fairly consistent, a lot of it wasn’t. This frustrated me as a copy editor, legal information professional, and student interested in Aboriginal law; I’m a big believer that words matter – they reflect and shape our ideas, values, and worldviews – and that using consistently respectful terminology, grammar, and conventions is important when we are trying to renew nation-to-nation relationships with Indigenous Peoples in Canada.

As I searched for resources that could help me learn about best practices for writing about Indigenous Peoples, I noticed that most of these texts were generalist in nature or geared toward non-legal professions like journalism. These were helpful, but the legal context has specific needs that weren’t fully addressed by these guides. After expressing my frustration to Professor Metallic, she encouraged me to take matters into my own hands and create a resource to fill this gap. So, under her supervision, the Style Guide was born. It consolidates existing best practices into one document and addresses the legal profession’s unique needs in this subject area.

The guide is described as “an evolving style guide.” Why is that framing important?

The decision to refer to the Guide as ‘evolving’ was important to us because language itself evolves. It’s a very fluid thing that changes over time. So, what is a best practice today may not be a best practice tomorrow, especially in a dynamic practice area like Aboriginal law where we have already seen terminological shifts over the years.

By framing the Guide as ‘evolving,’ the document – like language itself – becomes a living thing that grows and changes. It captures the nuances that are inherent to language and leaves open the opportunity to update the Guide as language practices evolve more organically in both legal academia and legal practice. To that end we envision this resource as an ongoing, collaborative effort and invite anyone with suggestions about new areas, topics, or terms that could be addressed in the Guide to reach out with their ideas.

I also hope that the use of ‘evolving’ can evoke the sense that these are guidelines rather than hard and fast rules. We wrote this grounded in our particular context at a law school in Mi’kma’ki – what works here might not work somewhere else. They are strong suggestions, yes, but I think ‘evolving’ invites someone to consider how language operationalizes in their world and adapt it to suit that world.

Who is the intended audience for this guide, and how do you hope they will use it?

The intended audience for the Guide was primarily students and faculty at Schulich Law, but as the project grew there was a realization that this could be a helpful tool within legal academia more broadly. I definitely see academia as being the primary use case for the Guide.

I also think it has a place in the wider legal profession. Language is the bread and butter of a lawyer’s work. The legal profession already values the use of accurate, respectful language in the courtroom. I can definitely see how having a set of guidelines can help practitioners make choices in their written work product that aligns with these well-established values.

In developing the guide, what kinds of consultation or collaboration were involved?

Collaboration was integral at each stage of the Guide’s development. From the moment work began, we knew that this tool could only be successful with the help of its intended audience – members of the Schulich Law community.

Several Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars at Schulich Law whose work engages with Aboriginal and Indigenous law took the time to carefully review many, many drafts of the project. They would offer feedback based on their expertise, observations, personal practices, and lived experiences. These suggestions ranged from small tweaks in phrasing, to ideas about how to best present certain information, to larger contributions of substantive content. Professors Naiomi Metallic, Cheryl Simon, and Constance MacIntosh were especially impactful in shaping the final product. Input from librarians who teach in the Legal Research and Writing program was also immensely helpful. The range of perspectives from faculty influenced the Guide’s contents, gave me an early glimpse into its functionality as a practical tool, and helped me better grasp why this resource needed to be created.

I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge the contributions of my JD/MI colleague and dear friend Kate Anderson, who was instrumental in the Guide’s development. She graciously shared her perspective with me as a Métis woman with a huge passion for Indigenous rights. We spent many afternoons talking through issues we noticed as students and aspiring practitioners and brainstorming ideas for how to address them. She read every draft I wrote and made great suggestions about the Guide’s substantive content and overall stylistic texture. I couldn’t have done it without her support, drive, and ardent belief in the need for this resource.

How does this guide intersect with broader movements toward Indigenization and decolonization in legal education?

Call to Action 28 issued by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada calls upon law schools to ensure that all law students take a course about Aboriginal people and the law, specifically stating that this requires skills-based training in intercultural competency, conflict resolution, human rights and antiracism.

Legal writing is a core skill taught in every Canadian law school. Put simply, this Guide helps students develop this skill with an eye toward understanding how choices made in their writing can and do impact the people around them. As a tool, it fosters a baseline cultural competency in the domain of language and helps them mobilize it in their work as law students – and later as legal professionals.

I think that it also encourages students to think about how language has historically functioned to reify the colonial state and disempower Indigenous Peoples. This can hopefully promote awareness about how decolonization is a project that extends beyond their studies.

What has the response been so far?

The response has been overwhelmingly positive. Many instructors at Schulich Law have incorporated it into syllabi and assignment guidelines, so it is now the standard here when any student writes about Indigenous Peoples in their coursework.

Beyond Dalhousie, several law libraries have incorporated the Guide into learning and teaching resources like LibGuides. It has been cited in David Milward and Jonathan Rudin’s Indigenous Law and the Criminal Justice System extending its reach to an even wider audience. The Guide has also been translated into French by the Centre de traduction et de terminologie juridiques, which has brought it to new audiences and enhanced discussions about respectful terminology in the French legal context.

Something that surprised me – in a good way – was when a friend of mine told me that he used and cited the Guide in submissions to the court during his semester at the Dalhousie Legal Aid Clinic! I was proud to hear this because it takes this resource into the courtroom and acknowledges the importance of language in the practical, everyday work of lawyers.

Looking ahead, how do you hope this guide will evolve?

While there have been no edits to the guide in the year since its release, I have a few additions I would like to make to the Guide based on further observations in legal publishing practices and feedback from colleagues and community members. Stay tuned for this!

Finally, is there anything else you’d like readers to take away from the guide?

I really want to emphasize that truth and reconciliation is a journey, and it takes everyone’s effort to realize in a meaningful way. Language is just one small part of this journey. I hope that the Guide – and the use of consistent, respectful terminology more generally – can serve as a solid foundation in our advocacy for Indigenous rights inside and outside of the courtroom.