The RSC’s College was established to recognize a high level of achievement among scholars at an early stage of their career. It “is Canada’s first national system of multidisciplinary recognition for the emerging generation of Canadian intellectual leadership”. (The College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists). The College was inaugurated in 2014 to foster interdisciplinary approaches for the advancement of understanding and the benefit of society. The criteria for election is excellence, and membership for each newly-elected member lasts for seven years.
Professor Craft is an internationally recognized researcher in Indigenous laws, treaties and water rights, committed to promoting truth, reconciliation and decolonization. She is of Métis, Anishinaabe, French, Cree and Irish descent and has dedicated her career to working alongside Indigenous individuals and communities from a variety of Indigenous nations, both in the context of her academic scholarship and her professional legal work. Professor Craft’s exceptional interdisciplinary research initiatives on Indigenous legal traditions and Canadian Aboriginal law have allowed her to make a marked impact on Canadian law and policy, establishing her as one of our nation’s most promising legal minds.
Professor Craft’s research primarily explores Indigenous law related to protecting the earth and water. She works with many Indigenous nations and communities on Indigenous relationships with and responsibilities to nibi (water). She also plays an active role in international collaborations related to transformative memory in colonial contexts as well as the reclamation of Indigenous birthing practices as expressions of territorial sovereignty. While Professor Craft’s disciplinary home is law, she has many fruitful collaborations in health, social work, Indigenous studies, history, gender studies, geography and more. She works to reach both academic and public audiences, and takes special care to ensure that her research program promotes knowledge exchange within Indigenous communities, fostering continued exchange between knowledge keepers and youth.
Professor Craft joins a number of colleagues in the Faculty of Law who are existing members of the College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists, including Jane Bailey (2016), Chidi Oguamanam (2016), Nathalie Chalifour (2018), Tracey Lindberg (2018), Marie-Eve Sylvestre (2018) and Emmanuelle Bernheim (2020).
Congratulations to Professor Craft on this exceptional achievement!
