Cheryl is an L’nu lawyer called to the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society Bar in 2009, becoming the first Mi’kmaq-speaking female lawyer in Nova Scotia.

Cheryl received a B.A (honours) in anthropology from the University of New Brunswick, earned a LL.B. from the University of British Columbia and completed her LL.M. in Indigenous peoples’ law and policy at the University of Arizona.

Cheryl’s focus is on Indigenous law and policy. In 2015, Cheryl was appointed to the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission and is the current chair. Cheryl is the governance co-ordinator for Membertou First Nation, working alongside the community in developing laws on lands and citizenship. Cheryl previously worked as a senior policy analyst with the Atlantic Policy Congress of First Nations Chiefs. Cheryl has also worked as a part-time instructor at Cape Breton University lecturing on Aboriginal and treaty rights, Mi’kmaw governance and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

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