Thompson Rivers University will be bestowing an honorary Doctor of Laws degree to Marion Buller, the Chief Commissioner of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

In a statement, the university says the honorary doctorate is being conferred on Bueller “for her outstanding leadership and contributions to equitable justice for Indigenous people.”

A member of the Mistawasis Nehiyawak Cree First Nation in Saskatchewan, Buller earned a law degree from the University of Victoria in 1987 and was called to the bar in 1988. In 1994, she was appointed to the Provincial Court as BC’s first Indigenous woman judge.

She created BC’s First Nations Court in 2006 to provide restorative justice and traditional ways in sentencing, presiding over it until her retirement while also providing the foundation for BC’s Indigenous Family Court.

Between 2016 and 2019, Bueller was Chief Commissioner of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

“Many of the truths I heard from families and survivors left me in tears. At the same time, all of the families’ and survivors’ courage and resilience inspired me and gave me hope for real change in our communities,” she said following the inquiry.

Bueller will be honoured at Thompson Rivers University’s Fall 2021 Convocation, which will be held virtually, next Friday, Oct. 8.