428 THE ADVOCATE
- Á
VOL. 76 PART 3 MAY 2018
No, it will not. We have been clear from the very beginning that we need
to be fully committed to the complete range of things that we do at UVic
Law. Not only are they immensely valuable in their own right and the foundation
on which the strength and reputation of UVic’s program are founded,
but the value of those contributions will be essential for all our students,
including those in the J.D./J.I.D. program.
This commitment is expressed in the budget for the program, which
internalizes all of the costs needed to deliver the program, including proportionate
increases in our student aid budget, student recruitment efforts, law
careers office and much else. We are able to proceed with the program at
this time precisely because the provincial budget announced February 20,
2018 promises the full amount of the funds we had calculated, with the
exception of the first-year expenditures (which we have plans to bridge). In
addition to the essential core support from the province, we will also have
substantial additional funding from foundations and private enterprises for
the expansion of our Indigenous Law Research Unit and signature features
of the program. The inaugural field school, for example, will occur in partnership
with the WSÁNEC people of the Saanich Peninsula, with generous
support from the Victoria Foundation and the Sisters of St. Ann.
The provincial funding also allows us to hire the faculty necessary to
deliver the program. The increase in faculty will not quite be proportionate
to the increase in student load—we will increase our faculty by twenty per
cent (six faculty members), while our student load will increase by twentyfive
per cent—but we are confident that economies of scale, and the likely
development of additional visiting and research positions, will compensate
for that difference. Moreover, not all of the six additional faculty members
will be specialists in Indigenous law. We will have to build our capacity in
the J.D. program as well, because J.D./J.I.D. students will be adding to the
number of students taking upper-year electives.
Thus, the budget for the J.D./J.I.D. is sufficient to ensure that our other
programs remain strong. Nor will we be reducing the number of J.D. students
we admit. The annual intake of 25 J.D./J.I.D. students will be in addition
to our continuing intake of 110 J.D. students. We are also confident that
there will be no detrimental impact on class sizes. The added J.D./J.I.D.
load will be primarily in the upper-year curriculum, where many classes
have ample room for additional students, and we will be creating additional
sections in upper-year courses that are in high demand.
It is also important to realize that the J.D./J.I.D. has not been our exclusive
focus. The last five years have been a period of real innovation across
UVic Law. Probably the most important dimension of that innovation has