A day at the Supreme Court of Canada with Dad

Karenna Williams has only been in a courtroom with her father once. And that one time just happened to be at the Supreme Court of Canada.

"It was amazingly special to be in the same courtroom as my father," she said.

Williams and her father are both lawyers, working in Indigenous law, for Indigenous peoples, from different ends of the country. Her dad, Paul Williams, works from his home office in Six Nations. Karenna, who is Turtle Clan Mohawk, works at a firm in Vancouver.

But in December 2016, Williams and Williams came together and donned their robes in Ottawa — to challenge a decision made by a B.C. minister to approve a ski resort development in the Jumbo Valley.

"To see my dad, wearing the same thing as me, knowing that this is where a lot of history gets made, to be there with him was very overwhelming," Karenna said.

Karenna was part of the legal team representing the Ktunaxa people in the case. The team argued the Jumbo Glacier Resort would negatively affect the Ktunaxa's ability to practice their spirituality. The area, Qat'muk, is sacred to the Ktunaxa.

Paul Williams addressed the court as an intervenor, speaking on behalf of the Passamaquoddy people of New Brunswick.

"I was so overwhelmingly proud of him when he was presenting," Karenna said, comparing herself to a proud parent watching their child at a recital. 

"I just felt like elbowing the lawyer sitting next to me going, 'That's my Dad, that's my Dad!'" 

The Supreme Court of Canada has yet to release its decision in the Ktunaxa case.

Karenna said that while she hasn't been a lawyer for very long, that day in court with her father will likely be the pinnacle of her legal career.

"As a child following in the footsteps of your parents you often are left with exactly that impression, that you're following them. And of course, everything that I do is following the example that both of my parents have set for me," she said.

"But because of the way that court case unfolded, it ended up being that my father was stepping into the case that we had started. And that was very exciting for me, to know that we had both arrived in this courtroom really on our own merits."

To hear more about Karenna's day in the Supreme Court of Canada with her dad click the 'listen' button above.