Reminder to Complete the Indigenous Cultural Competency Education Requirement
This is a reminder to those lawyers who have yet to complete the Indigenous Cultural Competency Education requirement called The Path (Law Society of Alberta) – Your Journey Through Indigenous Canada.
The course launched on April 21, 2021 and active Alberta lawyers were given 18 months from the launch to complete the course or certify eligibility for an exemption. All Alberta lawyers who were active when the requirement was introduced have until midnight on Thursday, Oct. 20, 2022 to complete it. Those who became active after the launch of the Path can confirm their respective deadlines in the Lawyer Portal under Mandatory Education.
Those who do not complete the course by their deadline will be subject to administrative suspension (Rule 67.4).
Those intending on filing an exemption must do so as soon as possible to allow enough time for the exemption review process (see FAQ). Some lawyers may be subject to an exemption review, and if ineligible, will still be required to complete the Path (Law Society of Alberta) by the original deadline.
Lawyers are encouraged to set aside the time to complete the course sooner rather than later to avoid last-minute issues or unforeseen personal circumstances that may delay course completion.
The Path (Law Society of Alberta) is a five-hour series of online modules with videos and quizzes. Alberta lawyers can do the course all at once or in stages. Of those lawyers who have taken the course so far, 92 per cent have given it an overall rating of good, very good or excellent. Also, 90 per cent strongly agreed or agreed that it increased their knowledge and understanding of Indigenous cultural awareness.
How to Get Started
As there are different versions of The Path, we have provided specifics about how to register for The Path (Law Society of Alberta) on the Law Society website and in this How-To-Guide for instructions on registration. The guide contains a direct link to The Path (Law Society of Alberta), and requires you to use the following enrolment key to register: LSA#&
The enrolment key must be inserted exactly as indicated above with no extra spaces. This key is the same for all lawyers. It does not have any connection to your individual member number.
NVision has several different versions of The Path available on their website. Ensure that you are selecting The Path – Law Society of Alberta (lawyers and staff). If prompted for payment, an incorrect course has been selected.
Please note there are important steps included in the How-To-Guide to help lawyers receive their certificate of completion and to ensure the requirement is logged in the Lawyer Portal.
We encourage use of the How-To-Guide to get started and questions can be directed to Customer Service. Providing Alberta lawyers with shared Indigenous Cultural Competency Education is part of our responsibility to educate ourselves on issues relevant to the communities where we live and practise law, regardless of practice area.
Be sure to select the link that says Final Step for Course Completion and follow the prompts until issued the certificate of completion. Email Education if you have a certificate of completion and your Lawyer Portal still shows the requirement as outstanding.