{"id":92548,"date":"2025-05-16T13:30:18","date_gmt":"2025-05-16T17:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=92548"},"modified":"2025-05-16T13:30:18","modified_gmt":"2025-05-16T17:30:18","slug":"eskasoni-woman-goes-from-mikmaq-warrior-to-mikmaq-lawyer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/16\/eskasoni-woman-goes-from-mikmaq-warrior-to-mikmaq-lawyer\/","title":{"rendered":"Eskasoni woman goes from Mi\u2019kmaq warrior to Mi\u2019kmaq lawyer"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Rosemary Godin, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Cape Breton Post She\u2019s still fierce. It\u2019s more than ten years later, and Suzanne Patles\u2019 demeanour is a little more mellow, but when she looks at you with those grey-green eyes you know you wouldn\u2019t want her facing you in the courtroom. This is a woman who has gone from Mi\u2019kmaq Warrior and on the RCMP \u201cthreat list\u201d in 2014 to graduating from Dalhousie School of Law later this month. And not only graduate but with the honour of being the 2025 recipient of the coveted Donald Marshall Jr. Memorial Award from the Schulich School of Law. \u201cI\u2019m interested in seeing what kind of impact I can make within the legal system,\u201d says Patles speaking from her home community of Eskasoni. \u201cI knew… <\/p>\n

\n
\n
This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription – Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.
Register<\/a><\/div>\n
Already a member? Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Rosemary Godin, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Cape Breton Post She\u2019s still fierce. It\u2019s more than ten years later, and Suzanne Patles\u2019 demeanour is a little more mellow, but when she looks at you with those grey-green eyes you know you wouldn\u2019t want her facing you in the courtroom. This is a woman who has gone from Mi\u2019kmaq Warrior and on the RCMP \u201cthreat list\u201d in 2014 to graduating from Dalhousie School of Law later this month. And not only graduate but with the honour of being the 2025 recipient of the coveted Donald Marshall Jr. Memorial Award from the Schulich School of Law. \u201cI\u2019m interested in seeing what kind of impact I can make within the legal system,\u201d says Patles speaking from her home community of Eskasoni. \u201cI knew... <\/p>\n

This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.
Register<\/a><\/div>
Already a member? Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-92548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"\nEskasoni woman goes from Mi\u2019kmaq warrior to Mi\u2019kmaq lawyer - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/16\/eskasoni-woman-goes-from-mikmaq-warrior-to-mikmaq-lawyer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Eskasoni woman goes from Mi\u2019kmaq warrior to Mi\u2019kmaq lawyer - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Rosemary Godin, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Cape Breton Post She\u2019s still fierce. It\u2019s more than ten years later, and Suzanne Patles\u2019 demeanour is a little more mellow, but when she looks at you with those grey-green eyes you know you wouldn\u2019t want her facing you in the courtroom. This is a woman who has gone from Mi\u2019kmaq Warrior and on the RCMP \u201cthreat list\u201d in 2014 to graduating from Dalhousie School of Law later this month. And not only graduate but with the honour of being the 2025 recipient of the coveted Donald Marshall Jr. Memorial Award from the Schulich School of Law. \u201cI\u2019m interested in seeing what kind of impact I can make within the legal system,\u201d says Patles speaking from her home community of Eskasoni. \u201cI knew\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/16\/eskasoni-woman-goes-from-mikmaq-warrior-to-mikmaq-lawyer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-05-16T17:30:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/16\\\/eskasoni-woman-goes-from-mikmaq-warrior-to-mikmaq-lawyer\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/16\\\/eskasoni-woman-goes-from-mikmaq-warrior-to-mikmaq-lawyer\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"Eskasoni woman goes from Mi\u2019kmaq warrior to Mi\u2019kmaq lawyer\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-16T17:30:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/16\\\/eskasoni-woman-goes-from-mikmaq-warrior-to-mikmaq-lawyer\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1062,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/16\\\/eskasoni-woman-goes-from-mikmaq-warrior-to-mikmaq-lawyer\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/16\\\/eskasoni-woman-goes-from-mikmaq-warrior-to-mikmaq-lawyer\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/16\\\/eskasoni-woman-goes-from-mikmaq-warrior-to-mikmaq-lawyer\\\/\",\"name\":\"Eskasoni woman goes from Mi\u2019kmaq warrior to Mi\u2019kmaq lawyer - The Turtle Island News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-16T17:30:18+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/16\\\/eskasoni-woman-goes-from-mikmaq-warrior-to-mikmaq-lawyer\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/16\\\/eskasoni-woman-goes-from-mikmaq-warrior-to-mikmaq-lawyer\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/16\\\/eskasoni-woman-goes-from-mikmaq-warrior-to-mikmaq-lawyer\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Eskasoni woman goes from Mi\u2019kmaq warrior to Mi\u2019kmaq lawyer\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Turtle Island News\",\"description\":\"Your Source for Local News\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Turtle Island News\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/08\\\/turtle150.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/08\\\/turtle150.jpg\",\"width\":140,\"height\":150,\"caption\":\"Turtle Island News\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/TurtleIslandNews\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/newsattheturtle\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/channel\\\/UCOqB-hG3L6hRLsmqY0e5k0g\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\",\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Lynda Powless\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/author\\\/lynda\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Eskasoni woman goes from Mi\u2019kmaq warrior to Mi\u2019kmaq lawyer - The Turtle Island News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/16\/eskasoni-woman-goes-from-mikmaq-warrior-to-mikmaq-lawyer\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Eskasoni woman goes from Mi\u2019kmaq warrior to Mi\u2019kmaq lawyer - The Turtle Island News","og_description":"By Rosemary Godin, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Cape Breton Post She\u2019s still fierce. It\u2019s more than ten years later, and Suzanne Patles\u2019 demeanour is a little more mellow, but when she looks at you with those grey-green eyes you know you wouldn\u2019t want her facing you in the courtroom. This is a woman who has gone from Mi\u2019kmaq Warrior and on the RCMP \u201cthreat list\u201d in 2014 to graduating from Dalhousie School of Law later this month. And not only graduate but with the honour of being the 2025 recipient of the coveted Donald Marshall Jr. Memorial Award from the Schulich School of Law. \u201cI\u2019m interested in seeing what kind of impact I can make within the legal system,\u201d says Patles speaking from her home community of Eskasoni. \u201cI knew","og_url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/16\/eskasoni-woman-goes-from-mikmaq-warrior-to-mikmaq-lawyer\/","og_site_name":"The Turtle Island News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/","article_published_time":"2025-05-16T17:30:18+00:00","og_image":[{"width":725,"height":483,"url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Lynda Powless","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@newsattheturtle","twitter_site":"@newsattheturtle","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Lynda Powless","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/16\/eskasoni-woman-goes-from-mikmaq-warrior-to-mikmaq-lawyer\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/16\/eskasoni-woman-goes-from-mikmaq-warrior-to-mikmaq-lawyer\/"},"author":{"name":"Lynda Powless","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458"},"headline":"Eskasoni woman goes from Mi\u2019kmaq warrior to Mi\u2019kmaq lawyer","datePublished":"2025-05-16T17:30:18+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/16\/eskasoni-woman-goes-from-mikmaq-warrior-to-mikmaq-lawyer\/"},"wordCount":1062,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#organization"},"articleSection":["National News","ticker"],"inLanguage":"en-CA","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/16\/eskasoni-woman-goes-from-mikmaq-warrior-to-mikmaq-lawyer\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/16\/eskasoni-woman-goes-from-mikmaq-warrior-to-mikmaq-lawyer\/","url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/16\/eskasoni-woman-goes-from-mikmaq-warrior-to-mikmaq-lawyer\/","name":"Eskasoni woman goes from Mi\u2019kmaq warrior to Mi\u2019kmaq lawyer - The Turtle Island News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-05-16T17:30:18+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/16\/eskasoni-woman-goes-from-mikmaq-warrior-to-mikmaq-lawyer\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-CA","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/16\/eskasoni-woman-goes-from-mikmaq-warrior-to-mikmaq-lawyer\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/16\/eskasoni-woman-goes-from-mikmaq-warrior-to-mikmaq-lawyer\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Eskasoni woman goes from Mi\u2019kmaq warrior to Mi\u2019kmaq lawyer"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/","name":"The Turtle Island News","description":"Your Source for Local News","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-CA"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#organization","name":"Turtle Island News","url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-CA","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/turtle150.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/turtle150.jpg","width":140,"height":150,"caption":"Turtle Island News"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/","https:\/\/x.com\/newsattheturtle","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCOqB-hG3L6hRLsmqY0e5k0g"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458","name":"Lynda Powless","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-CA","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Lynda Powless"},"url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/author\/lynda\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/101363"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92548"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92548\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":92549,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92548\/revisions\/92549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}