Meredith Kerr
Journal Staff
A new full-time judge with ties to the Treaty Six region has been appointed to the provincial court in St. Paul.
Judge Cheryl Arcand-Kootenay is a member of the Alexander First Nation, located north of Edmonton.
“Mom and Dad moved us to Edmonton because at the time that we were growing up on the reserve, the number of kids from reserve graduating high school was little to none. I was the youngest of five and we lived in Edmonton until I graduated Grade 12,” said Arcand-Kootenay, who believes her family may have been one of the first to see everyone graduate from high school.
After graduating, she moved back to Alexander with her parents and deferred her university admission for a year because she had given birth to her first child.
“I went back the following September. Mom and Dad were extraordinarily supportive, as was my spouse at the time. So I drove in every day for three years to the university to get my first degree,” said Arcand-Kootenay.
Despite opposition from family and friends, Arcand-Kootenay then took a year off to work for the Alexander community before going back to law school; again commuting to the university for roughly an hour each way every day. She graduated from the University of Alberta and became a member of the Alberta bar in 1993.
Arcand-Kootenay spent much of her legal career working in family and aboriginal law, including work for the Office of the Child and Youth Advocate. Arcand-Kootenay is quite familiar with the St. Paul region as she appeared in court in Cold Lake, Bonnyville, Lac-la-Biche, and St. Paul during her career.
“I’ve got a little bit of family connections in Saddle Lake, and I’ve got family connections kind of in the region. Caslan, I’ve got family there, Buffalo Lake I’ve got family kind of a little bit spread around up there as well,” said Arcand-Kootenay.
Saddle Lake Chief Eddy Makokis is one of those family members. He said he’s very proud of his niece and excited for her new position.
“She’s been working with the First Nations for a lot of years, so she knows the problems that we’re having and she’s going to be a big help to us. And not just to us, but for everybody,” said Makokis.
Arcand-Kootenay said ultimately her job as a judge is to look at the facts and apply the law, “but I think perhaps just through the lenses that you bring with you, your life experience, in terms of how you see the facts and how they apply to the law I suppose . . . And perhaps myself and my other indigenous peers and colleagues in terms of being able to educate the other colleagues and peers if we happen to share whatever knowledge we have about our culture with them.”
Asked what she hopes to accomplish as a provincial court judge, Arcand-Kootenay said she wants to make a difference and be deserving of the position.
“To be a role model for indigenous people, for women, for somebody perhaps that might be in my courtroom to see me sitting there and to think if she can do it, then I’ve got dreams and I’ve got goals, maybe I can change my life and reach that as well. Because I don’t think you need to change the world, if you can at least change one person then you’ve done something while you’re here on this earth,” said Arcand-Kootenay.
Arcand-Kootenay is the third indigenous judge to be appointed in Alberta in the last three years, and the second to be sent to serve the St. Paul region.
“I think perhaps having two indigenous judges, a male and a female, hopefully that might make a difference. And I know (Judge Ivan Ladoceur)’s got some ideas for things. I just think for role modelling, just having two of us there.”
“A more representative judiciary means all Albertans benefit from a greater diversity of experience on the bench. Albertans deserve to see themselves reflected in the people who provide justice in their community,” said Kathleen Ganley, the provincial justice minister.
Arcand-Kootenay’s role modelling for indigenous people has already paid off. Her nephew has been practicing as a lawyer for a year now and her daughter is in her third year of law school.
Arcand-Kootenay will continue training with other judges in the Edmonton area for at least the next several weeks before she begins sitting in court in St. Paul, where she will preside over matters in the criminal, family, and youth courts, as well as traffic offences and other matters. She said she does expect to move to the region and make it her home base. Arcand-Kootenay fills the vacancies created when Judge Peter Ayotte and Judge John Maher retired from full-time duties, although both remain listed as supernumerary (part-time) judges on the Alberta Courts website.
