Sámi governance in focus for Borrin awardee

Across the Arctic north, reindeer follow herding routes that have shaped Sámi life for generations, binding people to land, culture and identity. The Sámi, about 80,000 people across Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia’s Kola Peninsula, are the only recognised Indigenous people in the European Union.

In response to pressure on their land, culture and political rights, they established representative bodies known as Sámi parliaments.

It’s these parliaments that interest Auckland Law School Professor Claire Charters (Ngāti Whakaue, Tūwharetoa, Ngāpuhi, Tainui) who received a $10,000 Borrin Foundation Travel and Learning Award to visit Sámi governance institutions and examine their relevance to Indigenous constitutional arrangements in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Charters will attend sessions of the Sámi parliaments, meet with parliamentarians and members of the Sámi Council, and connect with experts in Sámi law and governance at the University of Tromsø, the University of Helsinki, and the University of Oulu.

“The Sámi parliaments in Norway, Finland and Sweden are utterly fascinating as mechanisms to realise Indigenous peoples’ self-determination, even if they only do so imperfectly,” says Charters, who co-directs the Aotearoa New Zealand Centre for Indigenous Peoples and the Law.

“There are so many lessons we can learn to apply in Aotearoa. I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to undertake research on the parliaments in situ.”

Charters says her motivation for her ongoing work in Indigenous peoples’ rights domestically and internationally comes from a passion for justice for Māori and other Indigenous peoples in light of the impact of colonisation, together with consequential structural and socio-economic inequities.

In addition to Charters, Auckland Law School alumni Shay Schlaepfer has also been recognised in this round of Borrin Foundation travel awards. She’s receiving $10,000 to travel to Australia to investigate innovative biodiversity laws and engage with key agencies, practitioners, and First Nations communities.

Meanwhile, Dave Burnside is one of three recipients of the Te Pae Tawhiti Postgraduate Scholarship, which supports outstanding law graduates who face financial or personal barriers to postgraduate study.

Burnside is receiving $50,000 to support his PhD in law at the University of Auckland, exploring how lived experience can initiate and support journeys of criminal desistance and recovery.

Drawing on his experiences and work in the addiction and recovery sector, Dave’s research aims to strengthen understanding of lived experience within the justice system. His work centres the value of lived experience as a tool for systemic change and improved justice outcomes.