“It was a foregone conclusion that I would follow in my father’s footsteps,” says Jody Wilson-Raybould. “Dad encouraged us to be critical thinkers and to look at the world from all different perspectives. Law school seemed like the most appropriate place to be."
The Honourable Jody Wilson-Raybould served as Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada from 2015 to 2019 before taking on the role of Minister of Veterans Affairs in January 2019. She resigned from the federal cabinet in February 2019 but continues to serve as a Member of Parliament for the riding of Vancouver Granville. The First Nations leader and former Crown Prosecutor also served as the Regional Chief of BC for the Assembly of First Nations from 2009 to 2015.
Minister Wilson-Raybould is a member of the We Wai Kai Nation and a descendant of the Musgamagw Tsawataineuk and Laich-Kwil-Tach peoples who are part of the Kwakwaka’wakw and Kwak’wala speaking peoples.
Her father, Chief Bill Wilson, also graduated from the law school at UBC. Chief Wilson (Class of ’73) is an outspoken advocate in the First Nations community, who at one point worked with former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau to help draft and successfully negotiate the first and only amendment to Canada’s Constitution.
For more, read:
Profile of the Wilson Family, UBC Law Alumni Magazine, Fall 2011,
Profile of Jody Wilson-Raybould, Trek Magazine, Spring 2016,
and watch Minister Wilson-Raybould address UBC students in March 2016: