Beverley Jacobs

Beverley K. Jacobs CM (born 1965) is a Kanienkehaka (Mohawk) community representative from the Six Nations of the Grand River Territory, Bear Clan. As an attorney, she became president of the Native Women's Association of Canada (NWAC), serving 2004-2009, and is best known for her work in advocating for the families of missing and murdered Indigenous women, and seeking changes to policing and the justice system to better serve Indigenous peoples. She is currently an assistant professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Windsor.

Personal life

Beverley K. Jacobs (Gowehgyuseh) was born in 1965 into the Bear Clan of her mother, in the Mohawk Nation on the Six Nations of the Grand River Territory, in Southern Ontario. Her traditional name, Gowehgyuseh, means "She's visiting." She has a daughter.

Education After spending some time working as a legal secretary, Jacobs pursued a career as a lawyer. She juggled law school with the responsibilities of being a single mother. Often because she had no alternative, Jacobs brought her daughter Ashley, then eight, to class with her.

Jacobs has also completed a multi-disciplinary PhD in Law, Sociology and Aboriginal Health at the University of Calgary.

Career

Bear Clan Consulting After leaving university, Jacobs became a consultant, launching her firm Bear Clan Consulting. She advises clients on issues such as Bill C-31, Residential Schools, Matrimonial Real Property, and Aboriginal Women's health issues.

Native Women's Association of Canada

In 2004 Jacobs entered the world of Indigenous politics, winning the election for President of the Native Women's Association of Canada (NWAC), largely on her work with families of missing and murdered aboriginal women. Jacobs was re-elected for a second term as President of NWAC in 2006. In her role as president, Jacobs attended the 2008 meeting at which Prime Minister Stephen Harper formally apologized to survivors for abuses under the residential school system.

Jacobs chose not to run in the 2009 election. Her pregnant cousin went missing in January 2008; her murdered body was found three months later. The perpetrator was prosecuted and convicted.

Families of Sisters in Spirit

After Jacobs left NWAC, the Conservative federal government, led by Stephen Harper, cancelled the Sisters in Spirit project. They said they would not fund any future projects if NWAC used the name Sisters in Spirit in any of its programming.

But families who had met through the Sister in Spirit campaign formed Facebook groups, and stayed in touch, and continued to hold vigils, forming a new social movement. In 2012 alone, 163 vigils were held across Canada.

Ending Violence Association of British Columbia By 2014 Jacobs was working with the Ending Violence Association of British Columbia. This province has had a high rate of missing and murdered indigenous women. In June 2014 leaders of civil and aboriginal governments signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) "to end all forms of violence against Aboriginal women and girls. It was signed by leaders from the provincial government, including Premier Christy Clark, and Aboriginal leadership across British Columbia, including the BC-AFN, the First Nations Summit and Metis Nation-BC." In May 2010, she received a Circle of Honour Esquao Award from the Institute for the Advancement of Aboriginal Women in Edmonton, Alberta. On December 1, 2016, she received a Franco-German Prize for Human Rights and the Rule of Law from the Governments of France and Germany for her human rights fight on issues relating to Missing and Murdered Indigenous women and girls in Canada.

Video Links Beverley Jacobs at Government apology to former students of residential schools