About me - Christina Gray

I am a Ts'msyen citizen from Lax Kw'alaams in northern British Columbia and Dene from Łutsël Kʼé (Treaty 8) in the Northwest Territories.

I come from a long line of independent women who passed down a clear understanding of what it means to carry rights, responsibilities, and obligations. My identity, my research, and my writing are entirely shaped by their strength and survival.

What Drives My Work

I look at the big picture of how history, law, and policy impact Indigenous communities. My thinking is guided by three core principles:

  • Belonging and Kinship: The state uses bureaucratic rules to decide who has "status" and who belongs, which has systematically torn families apart for generations. True identity belongs to communities, grounded in family ties and care for one another.

  • Restoring the Matriarchal Order: Colonial laws were specifically designed to disrupt matrilineal lines and strip legal authority from Indigenous women. True self-determination is impossible if we do not fix this foundation and center the traditional roles of women.

  • Moving Beyond the Surface: Finding temporary fixes within existing government frameworks is only a starting point. My work focuses on how communities can look past government templates to reclaim and live by their own ancestral laws and knowledge.

Writing & Research

My primary focus is on thought leadership, systemic analysis, and rewriting history from the ground up. My current work includes:

  • Gender and the Indian Act: Analyzing the historical and ongoing mechanics used by the state to legally disrupt matrilineal lines and erase Indigenous women and their descendants, while exploring paths toward structural restoration.

  • Indigenous Place Names: Researching and writing about the material power of reclaiming ancestral names across land-use, treaty-making, and self-governance.

  • Trans-Systemic Legal Thought: Exploring the paradigm shifts happening within the legal profession as Indigenous legal traditions are brought back to the center of community life.

Background

I hold a Juris Doctor (JD) from the University of British Columbia and a Master of Laws (LLM) from the University of Victoria, where my graduate research focused on gendered narratives within the Ts'msyen legal tradition. I have written for national publications, policy institutes, and legal special reports, focusing on treaty interpretation, international human rights, and systemic reform.