Aboriginal culture front and centre as lawyer Estella Charleson is called to the bar

Estella Charleson isn’t the first aboriginal lawyer to be called to the bar in the Great Hall of the B.C. Supreme Court, but she was the first to do it Hesquiaht style. Forsaking the traditional court attire of a barrister’s black gown, white wing collar shirt, tabs and waistcoat, which was worn by 181 other lawyers in the Call and Admission Ceremony on Thursday, the 31-year-old from the Hesquiaht First Nation chose to wear regalia from her own tradition.