Category: February 2024

KWAKWAKA’WAKA CHIEF/JUDGE ALFRED JOHN SCOW DIED

Born April 10, 1927, in Alert Bay, British Columbia (BC), Scow, hereditary chief of the Kwikwasutinuxw First Nation, attended University of BC (UBC) and was the 1^st Aboriginal person to: Graduate from a BC law school (1961); be called to the BC bar; and be a legally trained judge with the BC Provincial Court. Before his judgeship, he spent 2 years on the Amerindian Lands Commission’s fact-finding committee in Guyana and, later, chaired the BC Workers’ Compensation Review Board. Honors include Aboriginal Achievement Award; Order of Canada (2000); and Order of BC (2004). Retiring in 1992, Scow served in several roles at UBC including Faculty of Law First Nations (FN) Advisory Committee and co-founder, Elders Committee for the FN House of Learning. He also served on the Aboriginal Justice Centre, Pacific Salmon Foundation, and the Institute of Indigenous Government boards. In 2001, he founded The Scow Institute for Communicating Information on Aboriginal Issues.

Sources:

Yolande Cole, B.C. Judge Alfred Scow remembered as "aboriginal pioneer," The Georgia Straight, 3/8/2013.  Retrieved 10/23/2022, B.C. judge Alfred Scow remembered as "aboriginal pioneer" | Georgia Straight Vancouver's News & Entertainment Weekly.

“Remembering the Honourable Alfred Scow, BC’s first legally trained Indigenous judge,” Provincial Court of British Columbia, 9/14/2021.  Retrieved 10/23/2022, Remembering the Honourable Alfred Scow, BC’s first legally trained Indigenous judge | Provincial Court of British Columbia

Wikipedia

Photo:  Courtesy University of British Columbia Archives, Photo by Jim Banham [UBC 41.1/969-2].  Source: The Honourable Alfred J. Scow, OC, OBC | historyproject.allard.ubc.ca