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Urban Aboriginal Knowledge Network (UAKN) Atlantic at the University of New Brunswick, Under One Sky Head Start, New Brunswick’s Department of Social Development and the faculty of criminology and criminal justice’s women’s studies and gender studies program at St. Thomas University are pleased to present Josie McKinney, crown attorney for the Nova Scotia Public Prosecution Service, who will speak on identifying and responding to racism and discrimination in public institutions.

This public presentation will be held from 4-6 pm on Monday, March 14, in room 356 at Marshall d’Avray Hall on UNB's Fredericton campus.

In her presentation, Ms. McKinney will examine the impact of racism and discrimination on the experiences of Aboriginal Peoples within our public institutions and how we can begin to change it by using "real-life" examples from the criminal justice system. The goal is to provide a starting point for tackling these issues in any setting or organization.

Following the presentation, a panel will reflect on how to collectively address racism and discrimination within public institutions, especially in relation to urban Aboriginals in New Brunswick. The panel members for the presentation will include: Miigam’agan, elder-in-residence at St. Thomas University and UAKN Atlantic executive committee member; Graydon Nicholas, former lieutenant-governor and endowed chair in native studies at St. Thomas University; and Judith Keating, Q.C. Government of New Brunswick’s First Nations representative and chief legal advisor to the premier of New Brunswick. The panel will be moderated by Patsy McKinney, the director of Under One Sky Head Start.

Ms. McKinney graduated from Renaissance College at the University of New Brunswick in 2004 and received her bachelor of laws from Dalhousie University in 2006. After her admission to the bar in Nova Scotia in 2007, Josie moved to Ottawa and was admitted to the bar in Ontario. She was a staff lawyer for the University of Ottawa legal clinic from 2007-2010, responsible for developing and delivering legal services for the Aboriginal community in Ottawa.

Since 2011, she has been employed as a crown attorney for the Nova Scotia Public Prosecution Service. Upon returning to Nova Scotia, she has continued to work to address issues of racism and discrimination within the legal system through her job as a crown attorney as well as through her work with the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society’s Racial Equity Committee, Dalhousie law school’s Indigenous Black and Mi’kmaq Initiative and the Office of African Nova Scotian Affairs’ “Project LEAD”.

Media contact: Hannah Classen