Indigenous legal orders are operational legal systems with cases, principles, and reasoning that can be identified, briefed, and applied - not simply ideas about law. This working session is grounded in two stories doing real legal and governance work in British Columbia today. Skú7pecen, the Secwépemc telling of the Porcupine, guides the Qwelmínte Secwépemc Office's Government-to-Government framework with the Province through the Skú7pecen Journey Letter of Commitment - shaping how a collective of Secwépemc communities walks together with the Crown on the land. Duchun, the Dakelh story of the trees, recorded by the Nak'azdli Whut'en Yinka Huwunline (Stewards of the Land) Department, sets out the law of forest harvest, the duty to intervene and deliberate, and consequences that endure in the landscape itself. Drawing on her practice supporting both, the speaker will frame Skú7pecen's role in QS's living governance and then lead participants through a collective case-briefing of Duchun using the Indigenous Law Research Unit (ILRU) methodology - identifying the issues, facts, decisions, reasons, and the legal principles, processes, and responsibilities the story sets out. The session will then turn to the practical: how principles drawn from a story show up in forestry referrals, wildlife governance, Council resolutions, agreements, and Crown negotiation tables - and where revitalization work meets the limits of Canadian legal frameworks. Discussion will consider what distinguishes Indigenous law from "Aboriginal law" as a Crown construct, and what it asks of participants - Indigenous and non-Indigenous - to engage Indigenous legal orders seriously as law in places of decision-making.

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