Leroy Little Bear

Early Life

Little Bear was born a member of the Kainai First Nation on the Blood Indian Reserve, in Southern Alberta. With his six siblings, he grew up immersed in Kainai culture. Little Bear began his formal education at age 10 at St. Mary’s Indian Residential School (see Residential Schools in Canada), near his home. He became aware of how nearly everything he was learning reflected a colonial viewpoint.

In the early 1970s, Little Bear earned a Bachelor degree and became one of the first Indigenous students to graduate from the University of Lethbridge. He earned a Juris Doctor degree (law) from the University of Utah in 1975.

Indigenous Studies

Leroy Little Bear returned to the University of Lethbridge in 1975 as a researcher and professor. He founded the university’s Native American Studies Department. The department dedicated itself to community-engaged research based on the priorities of Indigenous Peoples in Canada and around the world. For 21 years, Little Bear led the department. The department supported Indigenous and non-Indigenous students learning about and researching Indigenous languages, laws, politics, cultures, arts and traditions.

Little Bear retired from the University of Lethbridge in 1997. In January 1998, he became the director of the newly created Native American Program at Harvard University. This program involved interfaculty scholarship, research and teaching, as well as Indigenous outreach and recruitment. He retired from Harvard in June 1999.

Constitution and Law

In 1980, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau began a process to patriate the Canadian Constitution (see Constitution Act, 1982) with an embedded Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Leroy Little Bear worked with the National Indian Brotherhood (NIB), which later became the administrative secretariat of the Assembly of First Nations, to fight for Indigenous involvement in the process of patriating the Canadian Constitution. He also fought for the inclusion of Indigenous Rights in the Canadian Constitution. He played a significant role in the adoption of section 35 that constitutionally recognized and enshrined Indigenous Rights.

Little Bear continued to work with the NIB’s legal team to bring Indigenous justice to Indigenous communities. In 1990, he was appointed a member of the Task Force on the Criminal Justice System and Its Impact on the Indian and Metis People of Alberta. The task force’s March 1991 report led to changes in policing, courts and the corrections system. These changes included the adoption of Indigenous perspectives intended to bring the criminal justice system home to the people it was supposed to serve.

Little Bear offered legal advice on the recognition of the constitutionality of Treaties 6, 7 and 8. He was involved in the reconstitution of Siksikaitsitapi – the Blackfoot Confederacy. In 2000, the confederacy brought together the Kainai, Siksika, Piikani and Aamskapi Pikuni nations.

Advocacy

Leroy Little Bear was part of the United Nations working group that drafted the 2007 Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It was eventually ratified by over 144 member states. It is helping to inform relations between Indigenous Peoples and the federal and provincial governments.

In 2008, Little Bear was instrumental in beginning the negotiations that led to the September 2014 signing of The Buffalo: A Treaty of Cooperation, Renewal and Restoration. It committed four First Nations in Canada and four American Indian Tribes to restore buffalo herds. When buffalo began to arrive and thrive in Alberta and Montana, more signatories were added to the treaty and more buffalo were reintroduced.

Little Bear continues to serve as the Vice-Provost, Iniskim Indigenous Relations at the University of Lethbridge and occasionally teaches classes. He has also served on the Board of the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and currently serves on the board of the Glenbow Museum.

Author and Speaker

Leroy Little Bear is a popular speaker who has stirred audiences with many topics. He encourages Western science to adopt Indigenous Traditional Knowledges. In particular, he supports adopting the knowledge that everything is spiritual, animate, related and in a constant state of renewal.

Little Bear’s paper, “A Concept of Native Title”, was presented to the Berger Commission. The Berger Commission was reviewing the suggestion of building the Mackenzie Valley pipeline. “A Concept of Native Title” challenged governmental ideas about Indigenous Title. Little Bear became the first Indigenous author cited by the Supreme Court of Canada.

Among the many books and chapters he wrote or co-wrote are Governments in Conflict? Provinces and Indian Nations in Canada (1988), Pathways to Self-Determination: Canadian Indians and the Canadian State (1984), "Aboriginal Paradigms: Implications for Relationships to Land and Treaty Making" in Advancing Aboriginal Claims: Visions, Strategies, Directions (2004), "Traditional Knowledge and Humanities: A Perspective by a Blackfoot" in the Journal of Chinese Philosophy (2012) and "An Elder Explains Indigenous Philosophy and Indigenous Sovereignty" in Philosophy and Aboriginal Rights: Critical Dialogues (2013).

Little Bear was awarded an honorary Doctor of Arts and Science from the University of Lethbridge and was named its first Distinguished Niitsitapi Scholar. He received an honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Northern British Columbia, the key to the City of Lethbridge and was inducted into the Alberta Order of Excellence. In 2003, Little Bear received a National Aboriginal Achievement Award (now Indspire) for education. Little Bear was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2018.