Get Involved

Interested in becoming part of RELAW? 
Find out how.

 

The RELAW Program (Revitalizing Indigenous Law for Land, Air and Water) was launched in 2016, and aims to deepen community-based capacity to engage in the articulation, revitalization, and application of Indigenous laws to contemporary issues. We do so by providing co-learning opportunities to individuals and ongoing pro bono legal support to Indigenous nations.

The heart of the RELAW approach is to support the empowerment of Indigenous nations in uplifting their Indigenous legal orders guided by their Elders, knowledge carriers and community.  

RELAW lawyers and RELAW partners share tools and resources for co-learning participants to begin to implement Indigenous story in community engagement, decision-making, governance, capacity building, communications and other initiatives to address environmental and socio-economic issues within their respective communities and nations. 

RELAW Co-learning Program
Call-out for Cohort 2025-26 • Deadline: August 20, 2025

West Coast Environmental Law’s RELAW Co-learning Program is accepting participants into our 2025-26 cohort!

Are you interested in: 

  • learning about research and approaches to applying and enforcing Indigenous law?
  • engaging with your nation’s own laws and processes?
  • exploring how Indigenous law can shape community decision-making processes?
  • learning of trauma-informed approaches to community engagement design and delivery?
  • knowledge sharing as co-learners?

Our year-long RELAW Co-learning Program has three Retreats: 

  1. RELAW Retreat 1: Indigenous Law in Story – November 24-27, 2025 (4 days) – Manning Park Lodge
    Manning Park Lodge is in the North Cascade Mountains in an area that encompasses the headwaters of the Similkameen and Tulameen Rivers and connects several Indigenous peoples, including the sməlqmíx / syilx, Nlaka’pamux, Upper Skagit and Stó:lō. The area is known as saʕtikn in the nsyilxcən language. We look forward to learning more together about the area and the peoples who hold connections to it.
     
  2. RELAW Retreat 2: Indigenous Law in Dialogue – February 18-20, 2026 (3 half days) – Virtual
     
  3. RELAW Retreat 3: Indigenous Law in Action – June 1-4, 2026 (4 days) – Loon Lake Lodge
    Loon Lake Lodge & Retreat Centre is located on Katzie “q̓ic̓əy̓ – …land of the moss” territory, located in scenic Maple Ridge, BC, approximately one hour east of Downtown Vancouver. 

Click here to learn more about 2025-26 RELAW Retreats in the Co-learning Program.

Application Process

Indigenous nations or organizations may nominate community members, employees or others with an ongoing, close relationship to the community, to participate in the RELAW Co-learning Program. 

To apply, please complete the Expression of Interest form below and submit to admin@wcel.org with subject line “RELAW Co-learning Program 2025-26.” 

Space is limited and first consideration will be given to applications received by August 20, 2025.

Note: If you're accessing the Expression of Interest form on your phone, please download and save the PDF to your device to enable the fillable fields.

For more information about the RELAW Co-learning Program, please email Katlia at klafferty@wcel.org.


RELAW Projects

Through RELAW Partnerships, lawyers work on RELAW projects, providing legal services and working alongside Indigenous nations who wish to develop expressions of their law through deliberative community-based processes grounded in the teachings from their stories and knowledge holders.

Should an Indigenous Nation be interested in learning more, please reach out to the Program Lead, Rayanna Seymour-Hourie at rseymour@wcel.org.

To learn more, see: Background on RELAW Co-learning Program. We are accepting applications for our RELAW Co-Learning Program until August 20, 2025. 

To learn more, see: Background on RELAW Learning Partnerships

Read more:

File Download
2025-26 RELAW Co-learners Expression of Interest Form (Word)
2025-26 RELAW Co-learners Expression of Interest Form (PDF)