Aaron Mills

Aaron Mills (Waabishki Ma'iingan, Baatwetang) is a Bear Clan Anishinaabe from Couchiching First Nation, Treaty 3 Territory, and from North Bay, Ontario, Robinson-Huron Treaty territory.  In 2010, Aaron obtained a JD from the University of Toronto, where he was editor-in-chief of the Indigenous Law Journal and sat on the board of directors of Aboriginal Legal Services of Toronto.  In 2011, he completed articles at Olthuis Kleer Townshend LLP, where he worked on an Aboriginal title file, a treaty rights file, myriad duty-to-consult files, assertions of Indigenous law, and the protection of a sacred Anishinaabe site.  Aaron earned an LLM at Yale Law School as a Fulbright Scholar in 2012.&nbsp.  Currently, Aaron is a Vanier Canada Scholar and a doctoral student at the University of Victoria's Faculty of Law.  He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Indigenous Bar Association.

Aaron is highly motivated by the examples of his mother and his nookomis (grandmother), who have lived their lives doing their best to help others.  One of Aaron's central goals is to ensure that his work is relevant beyond the academy.  As early as the first year of his PhD, he was already finding ways to bring his research into public service.

Aaron's dissertation, conducted under the supervision of Professors John Borrows and James Tully, examines Anishinaabe constitutionalism and is motivated by the belief that the revitalization of Indigenous legal orders today stand to benefit all Canadians.