It was an historic moment Thursday afternoon when two members of the Lheidli T'enneh First Nation were called to the bar during a ceremony at the Prince George courthouse.
Sonya Pighin and Miranda Schmold are believed to be the first members of the band to become lawyers and as a consequence it was a big moment complete with a drum ceremony outside the courthouse following the formalities inside.
"This is a great milestone, and when we acknowledge two of our own graduates being called to the Law Society of British Columbia, it is also the entire community of Lheidli T'enneh who are extremely proud of their achievements," said band councillor Dolleen Logan.
Pighin and Schmold both hope to see many others follow in their footsteps. Perseverance and focus were the themes when asked for advice for others aspiring to enter the field.
It's an eight-year process to become a lawyer, starting with the four years it takes to earn an undergraduate degree, followed by three years of law school and then a one-year B.C. Law Society admission program.
"I wanted to give up many times," Pighin said. "You've just got to keep going, don't expect it to be easy. But I think the payoff is worth it."
Becoming a lawyer has long been a goal for Pighin.
"It's kind of funny because a couple of years ago I was reading through an old diary from when I was 16 and it said my goal is to be a lawyer," Pighin said. "It's something I always wanted to do but there were many times in my life where I questioned whether I could achieve it... it's such a long journey."
She started her post-secondary education at College of New Caledonia where she earned a diploma in criminology, then transferred to what's now Vancouver Island University in Nanaimo, where she finished a degree in the same field. From there, she went to the University of Victoria for law school.
Since September, Pighin has been working at a law firm in Victoria that specializes in providing legal services to Indian bands.
"Lots of governance documents, so drafting laws, drafting bylaws, getting all of their contracts set up, reviewing their contracts, memorandums of understanding for transfer of funding," Pighin said.
Schmold is starting work at Jon Duncan Law Corp. in Prince George. She will start out practicing general criminal, civil and family law but plans to eventually specialize in either aboriginal or animal law.
"I kind of wanted to be a veterinarian all my life and I was just not strong in math or science so I saw where my strengths were and I thought another way I could help animals was through the law," Schmold said.
It's also something of a homecoming for Schmold, who lived in Calgary during her high school years. She came back to Prince George, where she completed a degree in geography at UNBC, then went to law school at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops.
Upon entering law school, she helped establish the first Indigenous Law Students' Association at TRU and became founding vice president and later president.
When she's not working, Schmold hopes to get involved in the Lheidli T'enneh community.
"I know our First Nation already has a lawyer but hopefully they can make use of me behind the scenes," Schmold said.
Three others were also called to the bar: Carolynne Burkholder-James and Kristopher Henderson are working at HSJ Lawyers and Corrine Baerg is working in Vanderhoof.
