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“This directive to all Government of Canada litigators could mark a profound change in Canada’s legal landscape,” Wernick said. “However, it could be repealed or gutted at the stroke of a pen and all that work turned to ashes, so I think now that all political parties need to be clear with Canadians on the future of that directive.”

As the SNC-Lavalin scandal stretched on, the directive popped up again. On April 2 the committee released text messages exchanged between Wilson-Raybould and Trudeau’s former principal secretary, Gerald Butts. In a message from December, Wilson-Raybould told Butts she planned to announce the directive at an event the following day. “Even all the DOJ lawyers (incl conservative ones) are good with it,” she wrote. “Be assured I have answered and addressed all concerns/questions raised by Ministers etc over last 6-8 mos which are reflected in directive and some concerns raised by peeps at PMO today.” She added that her department’s lawyers had already “been under this direction for some 18 Mos now.”

Photo by Justin Tang/CP

This directive was intended to reform the way the government conducts itself in court cases involving Indigenous peoples, in part by promoting negotiation over litigation. “Moving forward with recognition and reconciliation means we cannot continue to rely on adversarial court proceedings to lead the way,” she said in a statement on Jan. 11, when the document was published.

But the story of Wilson-Raybould’s final achievement as justice minister is more complicated than her text message to Butts suggests. While the principles that inform the Directive on Civil Litigation Involving Indigenous Peoples have been applauded by many lawyers working in Aboriginal law, the directive has not been universally embraced within the justice department — even leading to concerns that the Liberals’ desire to advance reconciliation with Indigenous peoples has impeded Crown lawyers trying to defend the government in court.