Aboriginal Law Conference 2026

Course Chairs
Karey Brooks, KC — JFK Law LLP, Vancouver
Sara Mainville — JFK Law LLP, Toronto

About the Course Chairs

Karey Brooks, KC is a partner at JFK Law LLP and practices primarily in the areas of Aboriginal, constitutional, administrative, and civil litigation law. She represents First Nations and Indigenous organizations in complex litigation and regulatory matters involving Aboriginal rights and title, treaty rights, consultation, governance, and Charter issues.

Karey has appeared at all levels of court across British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, and the Supreme Court of Canada. Her work has included representing Beaver Lake Cree Nation in its landmark treaty infringement litigation concerning cumulative impacts on Treaty rights; Kwikwetlem First Nation in an Aboriginal title claim involving novel extinguishment issues; Grassy Narrows First Nation in litigation concerning the Treaty 3 "taking up" clause; and Snaw-Naw-As Nation in litigation relating to former railway reserve lands.

She has also acted in significant public law and constitutional matters, including serving as Associate Commission Counsel to the BC Missing Women Commission of Inquiry (the Oppal Commission). In addition to her Indigenous rights practice, Karey currently acts as lead counsel in a class action against WestJet Airlines concerning alleged systemic failures in its anti-harassment program.

Karey is recognized by Chambers and Partners, Benchmark Litigation, Best Lawyers in Canada, and Lexpert for her work in Aboriginal law and litigation. She was appointed King's Counsel in 2021 and elected as a Fellow of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers in 2022.

Karey is a frequent presenter on Indigenous law, public law, and advocacy. She holds two LLM degrees from Osgoode Hall Law School.

During her early practice years with a well-known Anishinaabe law firm, Sara Mainville completed her LLM (University of Toronto) and a thesis titled: Manidoo Mazina'igan: An Anishinaabe perspective Treaty 3, which was one of the earliest examples of Indigenous ("Miinigoziwin") constitutional research by a legal practitioner.

Sara continues to work with First Nations and Inuit clients and is one of the few practicing lawyers that works as much within Indigenous constitutionalism and "Indigenous law" as within the Canadian constitutional order ("Aboriginal law").

In 2014, Sara was elected as Chief of Couchiching First Nation after the sudden death of her friend and mentor, Chief Chuck McPherson. During that term, she ensured that the First Nation had strong policy going forward, a good social media presence to engage the many off-reserve members in community affairs, and she livestreamed her Chief and Council and community meetings. Sara uses this experience as a former Chief to help leadership work past difficult issues, within Indigenous forms of dispute resolution, and walk the community through processes to encourage discourse and grassroots solutions to long-held problems. Sara is a strong believer that self-determination requires the Indigenization of our policies, approaches, and legal frameworks.

Sara is very proud of her participation in the negotiations that led to the creation of the First Nation Sovereign Wealth LP (FNSWLP), a partnership of 129 First Nations in Ontario. Directed by a Chiefs' Committee on Energy, Sara was active in the negotiations that resulted in the commercial transaction between the Province of Ontario and the FNSWLP of 14 million Hydro One shares and $29 million in seed capital to facilitate long-term wealth creation for the partnering First Nations. The lengthy discussions to transaction closing were completed between October 2015 to the final days of December 2017.

Sara has completed Advanced Negotiations training at Harvard University and dispute resolution, legislative drafting, and mediation training at professional institutes in order to advance her clients’ long held goals for self-determination and truer treaty partnerships in Canada.

Recently, Sara has received a certificate in Entertainment Law, and she has helped clients with Indigenous intellectual property, copyright, and title issues to accommodate better approaches to recognize collective Indigenous knowledge system, community protocol, and cultural ways and values. She is very committed to mentor JFK Lawyers and facilitate legal practices that are better suited to serve the self-determination and ambitions of our clients.

Sara is generally seen as a subject-matter expert about Crown-Indigenous relations, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Treaty 3, and Anishinaabe Inakonigewin. However, Sara sees herself as a life-long learner willing to meet in community, read voraciously, and listen intently to better understand Indigenous knowledge systems across Canada.

Sara is on the boards of the Ontario Bar Association and the Shine Network. She was formerly on the boards of Ecojustice and the Catherine Donnelly Foundation. Sara loves to teach and she is part of a team of JFK Lawyers teaching Nation-building and Inherent jurisdiction at Osgoode Law School in Toronto. Sara is also the Managing Partner of JFK Law LLP.

Faculty
Terri Bell — Callison & Hanna Law, Indigenous Advocates, Vancouver
Elizabeth Bulbrook — Senior Associate, DWF (Aboriginal Law Practice Group); former Archaeologist, Council of the Haida Nation, Vancouver
Nicola D. Collins — Legal Counsel, Tsawwassen First Nation, Tsawwassen
Darwin I. Hanna — Callison & Hanna Law, Indigenous Advocates, Vancouver
Jennifer Jansen — Manager of Government and Legislative Services, Tsawwassen First Nation, Tsawwassen
Ian Kennedy — Rosenberg Law, Vancouver
Katie Lever — General Counsel and Chief Administrative Officer, Great Canadian Entertainment, Vancouver
David M. Robbins — Woodward & Company Lawyers LLP, Victoria
Kiah Van der Loos — Sequoia Legal LLP, Victoria

Course Materials Contributor
Christopher G. Devlin — Sequoia Legal LLP, Victoria

Click here for full faculty bios

Welcome and Land Acknowledgement (9:00 – 9:10)

Teresa Sheward — Program Lawyer, CLEBC, Vancouver
Elder — TBA
Karey Brooks, KC — JFK Law LLP, Vancouver
Sara Mainville — JFK Law LLP, Toronto

Aboriginal Title, Crown Power, and Crown Duty—Understanding the Constitution of Canada in BC and Cowichan Tribes v. Canada, 2025 BCSC 1490 (9:10 – 9:55)

In BC, the law has always imposed Crown duty on the exercise of Crown power in relation to pre-existing Aboriginal title to land. In other words, the exercise of Crown power in relation to Aboriginal title lands within the province has always been subject to compliance with Crown duty. The legal principles reflecting this proposition have been embedded in the Constitution of Canada in BC since its inception. Understanding this BC legal history is key to understanding Cowichan Tribes v. Canada, 2025 BCSC 1490.

David M. Robbins — Woodward & Company Lawyers LLP, Victoria

Archaeology and the Proof of Aboriginal Title After Nuchatlaht and Cowichan (9:55 – 10:40)

Two recent decisions have reshaped what it takes to prove Aboriginal title in BC: The Nuchatlaht v. British Columbia, 2026 BCCA 137 and Cowichan Tribes v. Canada (Attorney General), 2025 BCSC 1490. In both, archaeological evidence was not merely corroborative, it was central to establishing sufficient, continuous, and exclusive occupation at the assertion of Crown sovereignty. Drawing on the author's dual background as a title litigator and professional archaeologist, this paper examines how courts are now receiving, weighing, and (at times) misunderstanding archaeological evidence, and offers practical guidance for counsel building or defending a title case.

Elizabeth Bulbrook — Senior Associate, DWF (Aboriginal Law Practice Group); former Archaeologist, Council of the Haida Nation, Vancouver

BREAK (10:40 – 10:55)

Cowichan Tribes v. Canada (Attorney General), 2026 BCSC 1213, and Private Landholder participation in Aboriginal Title Litigation (10:55 – 11:40)

• the rights of private landholders to participate in Aboriginal title claims
• interactions between the decision and the NBCA's Wolastoqey decision
• the SCC's upcoming decision on the BCCA's Malii decision, which also concerns interventions in Aboriginal title claims

Ian Kennedy — Rosenberg Law, Vancouver

Aboriginal Title: Panel Discussion (11:40 – 12:15)

Moderator: Karey Brooks, KC — JFK Law LLP, Vancouver
Elizabeth Bulbrook — Senior Associate, DWF (Aboriginal Law Practice Group); former Archaeologist, Council of the Haida Nation, Vancouver
David M. Robbins — Woodward & Company Lawyers LLP, Victoria
Ian Kennedy — Rosenberg Law, Vancouver

NETWORKING LUNCH (provided to in-person registrants) (12:15 – 1:15)

Urgent Need for Reconciliation of Treaty Rights with Aboriginal Rights (1:15 – 2:00)

Legally, Canadian courts have for several decades shown a high degree of reverence for modern treaties. Since 2020, two decisions of the BC Court of Appeal have affirmed that the courts of BC, at least, will privilege the Crown's duty to implement modern treaties over any conflicting Crown duties to protect asserted but unproven Aboriginal rights. The state of the law severely undermines the legal ability of non-treaty nations to effectively defend their asserted but unproven Aboriginal title and rights from encroachments by their modern treaty neighbours, either by way of consultation processes or even litigation. However, with the trial decision of Cowichan Tribes now on its way to the BC Court of Appeal, there is a new shift in the law that modern treaty rights are legally subordinate to established Aboriginal rights. That shift represents legal risk to all parties involved.

Kiah Van der Loos — Sequoia Legal LLP, Victoria

Changing Ownership Without Interrupting Regulation: First Nations Acquisitions in BC's Gaming Framework (2:00 – 2:45)

The acquisition of a casino business in BC is not an ordinary change-of-control transaction. BCLC conducts and manages commercial casino gaming through private service providers, while the newly established Independent Gambling Control Office regulates the industry. Transaction counsel must coordinate the commercial closing with registration, suitability, operational, AML, responsible-gaming, security and other regulatory requirements. While this uses the purchase of casinos as the model, the lessons apply to Indigenous acquisitions in other regulated industries where licenses, registrations, concessions or governmental contracts cannot simply be assigned.

Katie Lever — General Counsel and Chief Administrative Officer, Great Canadian Entertainment, Vancouver

BREAK (2:45 – 3:00)

Tsawwassen First Nation's Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Legislation (3:00 – 3:45)

Tsawwassen First Nation's privacy framework is an example of Indigenous self-government operating within a complex and layered legal environment. Since the effective date of the Tsawwassen First Nation Final Agreement in 2009, TFN has exercised law-making authority through its own Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, which establishes rights of access to information while also imposing obligations to protect personal information held by Tsawwassen Government. While TFN's legislation was modeled in part on provincial and federal privacy regimes, it reflects the distinct realities of a self-governing Treaty Nation, including the need to protect cultural and spiritual knowledge, honour community protocols, and manage information in a way that supports transparency, accountability, and trust.

Nicola D. Collins — Legal Counsel, Tsawwassen First Nation, Tsawwassen
Jennifer Jansen — Manager of Government and Legislative Services, Tsawwassen First Nation, Tsawwassen

Indigenous Jurisdiction Over Membership and Membership Rights (3:45 – 4:30)

• the forthcoming proposed federal measures for Indian Status, opportunities for First Nation Jurisdiction over Membership, and related Member Rights will be reviewed:
  • Bill S-2, formerly Bill C-38, which primarily addresses enfranchisement-related inequities
  • the second-generation cut-off and other remaining inequities under the Indian Act
  • First Nations jurisdiction over registration, membership and citizenship as a right of self-government under UNDRIP, including options for Nations to move away from parts of the Indian Act by opting out
  • the proposed federal update to the Indian Act that will have direct impacts on the several categories of individuals
  • review of relevant caselaw and legal principles

Terri Bell — Callison & Hanna Law, Indigenous Advocates, Vancouver
Darwin I. Hanna — Callison & Hanna Law, Indigenous Advocates, Vancouver

Closing Comments (4:30 – 4:35)

Karey Brooks, KC — JFK Law LLP, Vancouver
Sara Mainville — JFK Law LLP, Toronto