Catherine Bell (LL.M.) is a Professor of Law at the University of Alberta specialising in Canadian Aboriginal rights law, property law, cultural heritage law and interdisciplinary community based legal research. She has been a visiting professor and scholar at various universities and has developed curriculum and taught with the Program of Legal Studies for Native People (University of Saskatchewan) and Akitsiraq Law School (Nunavut). She continues to support Akitisiraq and other Indigenous legal educational initiatives in Canada. For several years she also served as a lead faculty member for the Banff Center for Management Aboriginal Leadership and Self-Government Program.
Professor Bell is published widely and has worked in collaboration with First Nation, Inuit, Métis, federal and provincial government bodies and organizations. She is the author of two books on the Metis settlements of Alberta; contributor to and co-editor of Intercultural Dispute Resolution in Aboriginal Contexts (with David Kahane); and contributor to and co- editor of First Nations Cultural Heritage and Law: Case Studies, Voices and Perspectives (with Val Napoleon) and Protection of First Nations Cultural Heritage: Laws, Policy and Reform(with Robert Paterson). Her current research focuses on Métis constitutional rights and the intersection of ethics, Indigenous law and Intellectual Property law in cultural heritage and research with Indigenous peoples. She is the recipient of numerous major research grants and awards including, with Larry Chartrand and other Metis rights scholars, a recent federal grant to re-examine Metis constitutional rights in light of the Manitoba Metis Federation case and the Canadian Bar Association’s (CBA) 2012 Ramon John Hnatyshyn Governor General’s Gold Medal for her contributions to Aboriginal law and legal education in Canada.
Working Better Together 