The Section had eight meetings during the 2009 year (including Joint Meetings with the Real Property, Natural Resources, and Human Rights Sections). An on-going initiative is that the Vancouver and Vancouver Island Aboriginal Law Section Chairs coordinate access to each Section’s meetings to increase the programming available for members in both locales. Notices of events in both Vancouver and Victoria were sent to members of both Sections and teleconferencing was arranged for interested members who were unable to attend in person. We had members of both Aboriginal Law Sections attend by teleconference at all of our meetings this year.
The speakers and topics this year were well received by members. Attendance at our meeting continues to be very good with attendance of over 30 members at most meetings. We also welcomed articled students and guests from time to time.
Our programming offered members panel discussions of significant recent cases in Aboriginal law, practice issues, and topics of interest to both solicitors and litigators. We were also very pleased to welcome the Honourable Mr. Justice Binnie of the Supreme Court of Canada to speak to our members. Additional highlights of our meetings in the last year include:
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Consultation and Accommodation: The Need to Have Both Form and Substance Right, Wii’litswx v British Columbia (Minister of Forests), 2008 BCSC 1139, on October 8, 2008 with Erin Christie and Peter Grant.
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Aboriginal Law – 2008 Year in Review, on January 22, 2009 with Robert Janes.
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Canada’s Specific Claims Reform Initiative and the New Specific Claims Tribunal Act, on February 5, 2009 with Lynne Partel and Michael Mladen.
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Impact of the Carrier Sekani and the Kwikwetlem decisions, from the perspective of counsel involved, on April 29, 2009 with presenters Tim Howard, Keith Bergner, Sandy Carpenter, Greg McDade, Q.C. and Ryan Dalziel.
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The Evolution of the Place of Aboriginal Peoples in the Constitution of Canada, on May 4, 2009 with the Honourable Mr. Justice Ian Binnie, Supreme Court of Canada.
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Aboriginal Human Rights in the Context of the Canadian Human Rights Act, The Repeal of Section 67 of the Canadian Human Rights Act, on May 27, 2009 with guest Speakers Sherri Helgason and Martin Reiher.
The Section finished the year with a successful social at The Revel Room in Gastown.
The Section thanks each of our presenters for generously volunteering their time and expertise.
The 2009 Executive of the CBABC Aboriginal Law-Vancouver Section was as follows:
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Jennifer Spencer (Blakes) – Chair
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Roy Millen (Blakes) – Past Chair
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Ming Song (McDonald & Co.) – Vice Chair
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Kevin Contzen (BC Hydro) – Secretary
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Brett Marleau (Department of Justice) – Legislative Liaison
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Joanna Mullard (BC Hydro) – Treasurer
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Janelle Dwyer (Mandell Pinder) – Member at Large
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Katey Grist (Faskens) – Member at Large
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Geordie Hungerford (Fraser Milner) – Member at Large
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Amyn Lalji (McDonald & Co.) – Member at Large
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Merrill Shepard (Donovan & Co.) – Member at Large
We thank this year’s Executive for their hard work and strong spirit of collegiality in organizing Section events and circulating material of interest to Section members in the last year.
Turning to the year ahead, the 2009-2010 Executive will be:
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Ming Song (McDonald & Co) – Co-Chair
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Jennifer Spencer (Blakes) – Co-Chair
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Kevin Contzen (BC Hydro) – Member at Large
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Joanna Mullard (BC Hydro) – Member at Large
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Janelle Dwyer (Mandell Pinder) – Secretary
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Katey Grist (Faskens) – Treasurer
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Merrill Shepard (Donovan & Co.) – Member at Large
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Jennifer Duncan (McDonald & Co.) - Member at Large
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James Mackenzie (Department of Justice) – Member at Large
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Barbara Harvey (Miller Thompson)– Member at Large
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Olwyne Burke (Bull, Housser & Tupper) – Member at Large
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Jonathan Hanvelt (Bull, Housser & Tupper) – Member at Large
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Keith Bergner (Lawson Lundell) – Member at Large
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Amyn Lalji (McDonald & Company) – Member at Large
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Deborah Hanly (Boughton Law Corporation) – Member at Large
The Executive will meet in late August to plan next year’s programming. All members are invited to suggest topics of interest for future meetings to any member of the Executive.
Jennifer Spencer, Chair