A Queen’s professor is being recognized for bringing beading back to law.
Danielle Lussier, the inaugural Chair in Indigenous Knowledge and Perspectives at Queen’s, was appointed to the Order of Ontario for her contributions in bringing Indigenous perspectives to legal and post-secondary education. The Order of Ontario is the province’s highest civilian honour, recognizing current or longtime residents who’ve demonstrated exceptional excellence and achievement in any field.
Lussier, a Red River Métis and member of the Manitoba Métis Federation, is a lawyer, advocate for legal reform, and an associate professor in the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures. She’s recognized for her contributions to Indigenous education, championing innovative teaching methods, and fostering reconciliation by reshaping both higher education and the legal field through a decolonial lens. Notably, she introduces Indigenous beadwork and culture into law, among other areas of post-secondary research.
In an interview with The Journal, Lussier highlighted the importance of seeing Métis people in spaces such as the legal profession and within the Order of Ontario. She wants this achievement to be a mark for young Métis people to see they can access spaces within achievements such as the Order of Ontario.
“If you don’t see yourself reflected in a space, it can be challenging to know how to enter it and how you move within it,” Lussier said in an interview with The Journal.
Lussier began her teaching career at the University of Ottawa as a PhD student where she studied law. She most recently served as the associate vice-principal (Indigenous Knowledges and Learning) at Kingston’s Royal Military College, fellow of the Institute of Intergovernmental Relations at Queen’s, and a professor cross-appointed to Queen’s Faculty of Law where she began full time last July. Currently, she chairs the Indigenous Advisory Group ing the 68,000-member Law Society of Ontario on issues related to its Indigenous and access to the legal profession.
When Lussier first learned she received the Order of Ontario, her assumption was that the awards committee was calling her for a reference check on one of her students.
“[I said] tell me the name. Who am I giving a reference for? And she had to pause, and she [said] ‘No, Dr. Lussier, I’m calling for you’,” Lussier said.
Her three children were the first to know about the accomplishment. Lussier recalled their excitement and cheer that was soon after replaced by the need to start beading traditional Indigenous clothing for the ceremony.
Lussier has used beadwork to help translate her research and learnings to her children. She shared that the Métis, are known as the “flower beadwork people.” Beadwork is traditionally a medium for Indigenous peoples to express themselves through the embellishment of clothes or other everyday objects.
“It [beading] was the basis for survival of the nation in many moments,” Lussier said. “It kept kids fed when women would do work and supplement income, especially when the hunt or the farming season was less than ideal.”
She highlighted the place of beadwork in law with many legal agreements between Indigenous people before settlers, such as Wampum Belts. Wampum are “tubular purple and white beads made from shells” and used to mark agreements between peoples.
Lussier wants to bring beadwork back into the sector of law as the wampum’s themselves signify mutual agreements and respect between people on a governmental level.
“Beadwork is just part of the Métis nation. But then, as a lawyer, you know, beads are brought into law, and wampum is one of the major manifestations of [being embedded in the law sector] because even before sellers arrived, Indigenous nations were exchanging wampum and creating legal agreements through the wampum’s,” Lussier said.
The ceremony to present Lussier with the Order of Ontario will occur later this year in Toronto. A specific date has yet to be announced.
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