On sabbatical from the UWO Faculty of Law for the academic year 2015-16, Michael was named a Visiting Fellow at the Law School of the prestigious Institut de Sciences Politiques in Paris for the Fall of 2015. While there Michael spoke to the students in Reims as part of a distinguished lecture series. The title of his paper was “Remembrance of Things Past: The Significance of Indian Treaties in Modern Canada.”
A visiting fellow at the School of Law and Politics at the University of Montpellier in the south of France since January, 2016, Michael presented a paper to faculty and doctoral students, this time focusing on rethinking the status of treaties as unique institutions in Canadian law. His presentation was entitled: “Traités historiques et droit contemporain des Amérindiens au Canada.”
The French are very interested in indigenous issues and the justifications given for colonialism. Above is the poster for a conference on indigenous sovereignty Michael attended in March, 2016.
Michael will be returning to Canada on June 27th.