Assistant Professor

Department of Law and Legal Studies, Carleton University

Adjunct Professor, School of Arctic and Subarctic Studies

Violet Ford (PhD-ABD) is an adjunct professor with the School of Arctic and Subarctic Studies at the Labrador Campus. She is also an assistant professor (tenure-track) at Carleton University's Department of Law and Legal Studies. Her homeland is within the Nunatsiavut region and was born and raised in Makkovik (Maggovik).

Violet is a residential school survivor and is the first woman of Inuit ancestry in Canada to become a lawyer. She is also a recipient of an Indspire Award in the category of Law and Justice. This Award is the highest honour that Indigenous People can bestow upon their citizens. She is a member of the Law Society of Ontario, the Newfoundland and Labrador Law Society, and the Nunavut Law Society. She currently sits on a number of advisory committees at the national level.

Violet is also a former legal counsel with Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated, as well as a former senior legal counsel with the National
Inquiry on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

Violet has held several leadership positions including vice-president of the Inuit Circumpolar Council. In this position, she was an international negotiator as part of Canada's delegation in the implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity provisions related to Indigenous environmental governance. She has also held the leadership position of Associate Vice-President of Indigenous Research at Memorial University. 

Violet's area of research interests includes the application and practices of Inuit legal traditions and their legitimacy within legal pluralism.