Karenna Williams

Karenna is Turtle Clan Kanyen’kehá:ka (Mohawk) from Six Nations, Grand River Territory, Ontario. She has a B.A. in Art History and Political Science from McGill University, and a J.D. from the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. In her practice, Karenna is primarily a litigator advocating for Indigenous peoples’ rights, title, cultures, languages and ways of life. 

Although she acts within the Canadian legal system as a lawyer, Karenna does her best to live under the Kayanerenkó:wa, or Great Law of Peace of the Haudenosaunee. Her approach to her work is rooted in the Haudenosaunee legal principle ska’nikón:ra (a single or united good mind), having been taught that bringing good minds together begets clear and creative thinking, accountability, and sound decision making. Her commitment to her own ways of being permeates her work. A proud Onkwehónwe (original, or Indigenous, person), she believes that Indigenous peoples and laws are powerful and deserve respect. She has appeared at all levels of court in British Columbia, at the Federal Court, and the Supreme Court of Canada as well as the Manitoba Queen’s Bench, the Ontario Superior Court and Court of Appeal.