Kinwa Bluesky

Kinwa Bluesky is Bear Clan and Anishinaabe from the Sandy Lake First Nation and Kitigan Zibi Anishinaabeg.  She comes with sacred feet, and now lives softly on the unceded, traditional territory, and homelands of the Musqueam Peoples.

Professionally, Kinwa is an Indigenous legal advocate who is committed to implementing equitable law, governance, and rights through social justice, Indigenous, and human rights-based initiatives.  At HELP, she manages Indigenous Initiatives with the support of Faculty and Staff, and under the leadership of the Aboriginal Steering Committee.  She is experienced in managing multiple senior executive governance committees for non-profits and charities, higher learning institutions, and all-levels of government, including First Nations and Self-Governing Indigenous Governments.

Kinwa works to support our collective civic responsibilities to implement the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Calls to Action and Principles, the UN and BC’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, and more recently, the Calls for Justice in the Final Report of the Inquiry into the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

She holds Juris Doctorate and Master of Laws degrees and is currently a Ph.D. Candidate at UVic’s Faculty of Law.  Kinwa is a Peloton online athlete, a self-confessed Apple fan, and Master LEGO Builder.

Learn more about Kinwa’s journey to HELP, her current research as a PhD candidate with the University of Victoria’s Faculty of Law, as well as her hopes for Indigenous families and children, both in BC and beyond in this special profile and video.