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“This was not only demeaning for (Eaglewoman), it undermined her authority and conveyed the message to others in the faculty that the (university) did not support her,” the document said. “This made it increasingly difficult for (EagleWoman) to manage faculty members and staff.”

The lawsuit also alleged the university’s ombudsperson was made interim director of student services and skills at the law school without EagleWoman being consulted.

“(EagleWoman) encountered open hostility and resentment from a small segment of the faculty, staff, and students,” the document claimed. “She was given the impression that she was not deserving of the position of dean and was not hired on merit.”

EagleWoman alleged she encountered particular resistance from two faculty members, who “became unco-operative and openly defiant,” the statement of claim said.

It said she tried to rectify the situation, requesting that the then-president and vice-chancellor hold a “culturally relevant Indigenous mediation process to allow her to voice her sense of powerlessness and to address the discriminatory behaviour she had been experiencing within the law faculty.”

That request was denied, the document said.

She also requested that the school “implement cultural competency/interaction training to improve the environment within the law school. She emphasized that such training was necessary to address ongoing tensions” and respond to a call to action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Those requests were also denied, according to the statement of claim.

Weeks after EagleWoman’s departure, a non-Indigenous provincial judge was appointed as interim dean of the law school to the chagrin of some First Nations leaders.

A review found that in accepting the position, Justice George Patrick Smith broke a rule that mandates judges avoid “controversy or public debate that could expose them to political attack.” By the time that ruling came down, Smith had already resigned from the dean’s post and he was not punished.