Bringing Legal Education to the Canadian Arctic: the Development of the Akitsiraq Law School and the Challenges for Providing Library Services to a Non-traditional Law School

In the Canadian Arctic on the southwestern tip of Baffin Island, there is a sacred meeting place marked by a ring of massive stones, “some weighing up to a ton, standing on end and arranged in a near perfect circle.” This place is called Akitsirqavik [cited as Akitsiraq] and for generations, this is...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International Journal of Legal Information
Main Author: Ableson, Serena
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2006
Subjects:
Law
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0731126500001190
https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0731126500001190
Description
Summary:In the Canadian Arctic on the southwestern tip of Baffin Island, there is a sacred meeting place marked by a ring of massive stones, “some weighing up to a ton, standing on end and arranged in a near perfect circle.” This place is called Akitsirqavik [cited as Akitsiraq] and for generations, this is the spot where people gathered for celebrations, games, feasts, and is the place where the Inuit Great Council met to discuss conflicts in their community and to agree upon solutions to these disputes. The last known Inuit traditional trial, a murder trial, occurred here in 1924. Akitsiraq means “to strike out, [to] render justice.”