Indigenous

Our firm’s Indigenous Practice Group brings with it a depth of experience in advising Indigenous clients on a broad range of matters, including providing advice and acting in disputes concerning the assertion of inherent jurisdiction and other Indigenous and treaty rights; setting up effective business structures that facilitate the expansion of a community’s economic development; aboriginal and treaty rights advocacy; and consultations with government and industry.

Our team of lawyers has developed innovative legal structures and frameworks for, and successfully represented, groups of Indigenous communities across the country who wish to work together to pursue business opportunities, including through limited partnerships, joint ventures, corporations and trusts. We help our Indigenous clients manage existing and incoming assets, and offer advice and guidance on governance models that reflect and respond to our clients’ priorities.

First Nations across the country turn to us for strategic guidance on:

• Setting up economic development corporations and business structures, including joint ventures and partnerships with respect to various industries, including energy, construction and transportation;
• Drafting governance policies for boards of directors of economic development corporations and providing guidance on the application of governance policies;
• Advising Councils and communities on the development of laws and policies based on inherent jurisdiction, recognition agreements such as the Framework Agreement on First Nation Land Management and statutes such as the First Nations Fiscal Management Act and the Indian Act, and the design and operation of the self-governance institutions which will implement those laws and policies;
• Collaborating with Indigenous clients on the joint presentation of information at community consultation and information update meetings; and
• Consulting on the negotiation of impact benefit and community benefit and cooperation agreements with government and industries.

Members of our group work with our First Nation clients to develop and implement sound governance policies, institutions and practices which reflect the interests, priorities and objectives of their communities. 

The laws, policies and codes which we have developed for our clients have proven capable of supporting some of the largest economic development projects undertaken on reserve land in Canada, and have provided the legal basis for entirely new forms of governance and environmental protection institutions which successfully carry indigenous value systems and decision-making processes forward into modern business and governance activities.

Some of the governance mandates we have worked with Indigenous communities on have been precedent setting and include the following:

• Drafting governance policies for boards of directors of economic development corporations and providing guidance on the application of governance policies;
• Advising Councils and communities on the development of laws and policies based on recognition agreements such as the Framework Agreement on First Nation Land Management and statutes such as the First Nations Fiscal Management Act and the Indian Act;
• Advising on the development of laws and policies, both as an exercise of inherent jurisdiction and in the context of federal statutory jurisdiction, including community standards by-laws, banishment, matrimonial real property law, child well-being laws, and custom elections, membership, residence and conduct codes;
• Developing and implementing land law frameworks and environmental stewardship regimes for Land Code First Nations; and
• Assisting and advising on the design and operation of the self-governance institutions which will implement the new laws and policies.

We strive at all times to identify our clients’ objectives and we respond accordingly by helping our clients overcome their challenges and achieve their goals. The Indigenous Practice Group understands the unique circumstances and complexities of Indigenous affairs and the dynamic relation between the various parties. We anticipate potential problems, employ techniques to avoid them and find creative solutions to overcome them.