Thank You to Delegates, Speakers and Partners for a
Successful Day of Learning and Networking!



The Canadian Institute’s 8th Annual Aboriginal Law, Consultation and Accommodation event was held on the traditional territory of the Mississaugas of the New Credit at the Bloor Marriott Yorkville in Toronto on June 23 and 24, 2015. The event centred around building positive and mutually beneficial relationships between Aboriginal communities and project proponents.

Chaired by Cynthia Westaway, a wide range of topics were covered from the Tsilhqot’in case and its implications, to defining the duty to consult, conducting effective consultations, community engagement, building strong relationships, negotiations, the new language of agreements, business structures, and real-world examples of what has worked for Aboriginal communities and proponents.

Day One opened with…
A session on the Tsilhqot’in case which was highlighted by Cathy Guirguis, and counsel for an intervener, Chris Devlin who eloquently spoke about the decision, its facts, outcome and implications. The day continued with a look at some of the other critical decisions of the past year with insightful comments from Aldo Argento, followed by an interesting panel on the definition of the duty to consult headed up by John Rowinski, Mark Bowler, and Bruno Steinke.

The afternoon started with Isabella Tatar speaking on how to conduct an effective consultation, and the Ministry of the Attorney General speaking about Engagement with Aborignal Communities. Finally, Paul General and Phil Monture took us through how to build the foundation for mutually beneficial outcomes.The day ended with chair, Cynthia Westaway passing the microphone around to each individual to introduce themselves and say a bit about what they had learned.
 
Day Two took us through…
Day 2 began with a few words from our gracious hosts, The Mississaugas of The New Credit, and a stirring session on negotiations delivered by Lou Strezos who captivated the delegates with outstanding practical examples of recent negotiations that he had been through with former Justice Iacobucci. Cynthia Westaway followed with an excellent session on impact benefit agreements before lunch.

An excellent session on business structures by Michelle Pockey and Stefan Moores before culminating in a fantastic panel discussion with facilitators Michelle Pockey and Jim Chan, and panelists Art Jacko, Phil Monutre, and Kyle Stanfield who all had excellent and practical insights to share from their real-life experiences of strategies that worked, as well as lessons learned.

All of our speakers did a fantastic job, and we are delighted to have discussed not only practical issues and the latest case law developments, but how to build and foster excellent relationships between Aboriginal communities and non-Aboriginal actors.

– Nadim Kurji, Lawyer, Conference Developer, Project Manager – The Canadian Institute