Honouring Treaties: Respect, Nation to Nation Relationships and Revenue Sharing
February 4 & 5, 2025 at 9:00AM ET
National Arts Centre in Ottawa, ON
Honouring Treaties: Respect, Nation to Nation Relationships and Revenue Sharing
February 4 & 5, 2025
National Arts Centre, Ottawa, Ontario
Overview
Mutual respect, maintaining relationships and an honourable approach to sharing resources are the basics for any successful ongoing partnership.
At this conference we will look at Treaties between Indigenous people and the Crown as sharing relationships, and consider the role of the Honour of the Crown in honouring those relationships.
This two day program will explore the issues around the recent Restoule decision from the Supreme Court of Canada.
How do we interpret and implement the Honour of the Crown in Canada? What does it really mean?
What are the obligations on the Crown to understand and respect the Indigenous perspective on Treaties?
How should Indigenous laws be applied in the negotiation and implementation of treaties?
What does diligent implementation mean in the treaty context? What are the guiding principles?
What do mutually beneficial and respectful sharing relationships look like in the Treaty context?
How has the duty to implement treaties in an honourable way been enforced?
What is Canada's record in honouring treaties?
What is the role of the courts and what are the remedies when one of the parties fails to honour the relationship?
We will look at historic treaties as well as the modern treaties that are being negotiated and implemented at the present time. We will hear about the recent Haida Nation and British Columbia Model - a new way of negotiating Aboriginal Title in Canada.
Come and learn.
Join us as we both consider lessons from the past and forge a new way forward.
Key Areas to be Addressed:
The Restoule Decision of the Supreme Court of Canada
Application of Indigenous Laws in Treaty Interpretation and Implementation
Honour of the Crown and Diligent Implementation in Restoule
Honourable Negotiation and Renewal
Treaties as Sharing Agreements
The Role of Courts in Providing Remedies and Implementing Treaties; respecting the Relational Aspect of Treaties
A New Approach to Treaties – The Haida Nation and British Columbia Model
Reconciliation Going Forward and Implementing the Sharing Relationship
Who Should Attend:
Aboriginal leaders, officials, councillors, elders, administrators, and advisors
Treaty negotiators and persons responsible for implementing treaties
Lawyers practising in the areas of Indigenous and Aboriginal law, resource development, real estate and business and administrative law
Owners, managers and representatives of resource development companies and companies operating on Crown land
Federal, provincial and municipal government officials and policy advisors
Consultants, accountants, financial planners, and others assisting Indigenous communities with financial matters and business operations
Agenda
Day One - February 4, 2025
9:00 - Welcome by PBLI
9:05 - Chairs’ Welcome and Introduction
Catherine Boies Parker, KC
Arvay Finlay LLP, Victoria, BC
David C. Nahwegahbow
Nahwegahbow Corbiere, Barristers & Solicitors, Rama, Ontario
9:15 - The Restoule Decision of the Supreme Court of Canada
Chief Duke Peltier
Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory, Ontario
Kaitlyn Lewis
Duboff Edwards Schachter, Winnipeg, MB
The background – Robinson Treaties
Impact of the decision
Nation to nation relationship
Next steps
10:35 - Questions and Discussion
10:45 - Refreshment Adjournment
11:00 - Application of Indigenous Laws in Treaty Interpretation and Implementation
Dianne Corbiere
Nahwegahbow Corbiere, Barristers & Solicitors, Rama, Ontario
Dr. Heidi Kiiwetinepineiik Stark
University of Victoria, School of Indigenous Governance
Treaty as relationship
Indigenous laws and diplomacy
Nation to nation relationship
Leading evidence of Indigenous laws
11:50 - Questions and Discussion
12:00 - Networking Lunch
Honor of the Crown and the Implementation of Treaties
1:00 -Honour of the Crown and Diligent Implementation in Restoule
Harley Schachter
Duboff Edwards Schachter, Winnipeg, MB
The Honor of the Crown – how has it been applied?
The duty of diligent implementation
Duty to implement treaties in “good faith”
The history of honouring treaties in Canada
What is left of the Fiduciary Duty?
2:10 - Questions and Discussion
2:20 - Refreshment Adjournment
2:35 - Honourable Negotiation and Renewal
Mark Stevenson
Mark L. Stevenson & Associates, BC
Brian J. Gover
Stockwoods LLP, Toronto
3:45 - Questions and Discussion
3:55 - Chairs’ Closing Remarks
4:05 - Forum Concludes for Day One
Day Two - February 5, 2025
9:00 - Chairs’ Welcome to Day Two
Catherine Boies Parker, KC
Arvay Finlay LLP, Victoria, BC
David C. Nahwegahbow
Nahwegahbow Corbiere, Barristers & Solicitors, Rama, Ontario
9:05 - Treaties as Sharing Agreements
Roger Jones, Barrister and Solicitor
Structuring the agreement
Compensation versus implementing the treaty
Treaty rights to commercial benefits
The Atlantic treaties - The Marshall experience and lessons learned
Sustainability and resource sharing
Co-decision making - Ongoing Indigenous sovereignty
10:00 - Questions and Discussion
10:15 - Refreshment Adjournment
10:30 - The Role of Courts in Providing Remedies and Implementing Treaties; respecting the Relational Aspect of Treaties
Professor Kent Roach
University of Toronto Faculty of Law
Professor Michael Coyle
Western University Faculty of Law
Structural oversight and declaratory judgements
Standard of review
Limitation Periods – how have the courts applied?
Obtaining a declaration
Separation of powers
11:45 - Questions and Discussion
12:00 - Networking Lunch
1:00 - A New Approach to Treaties – The Haida Nation and British Columbia Model
Murray Rankin, KC
Former Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation of British Columbia
Recognition of Aboriginal Title
The new way of negotiating Aboriginal Title - unprecedented in Canada
Certainty and the transition process
Reconciliation of jurisdiction and laws and the role of Canada
1:40 - Questions and Discussion
Reconciliation Going Forward
1:50 - Faculty Roundtable - Implementing the Sharing Relationship
David C. Nahwegahbow
Nahwegahbow Corbiere, Barristers & Solicitors, Rama, Ontario
Treaties as sharing relationships
Creating balance
What does “good faith” mean in the treaty relationship?
2:40 - Questions and Discussion
2:50 - Chairs’ Closing Remarks
3:00 - Forum Concludes
Meet the Co-Chairs
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Catherine Boies Parker, KC is called to the Bars of British Columbia, Ontario, and Yukon. Her areas of practice include constitutional, aboriginal, administrative, privacy, and environmental law, as well as labour and employment law.
Catherine has appeared at all levels of Court, and before numerous administrative and regulatory tribunals. Catherine provides litigation and policy support for a wide range of public bodies, and conducts workplace investigations for both private and public clients. Catherine is a frequent guest lecturer on topics such as constitutional law, privacy law and civil liberties. She is the founding president of the Pacific Centre for Environmental Law and Litigation, a former director of the Mary Manning Centre, Child Abuse Prevention and Counselling Society of Greater Victoria and a former Chair of the ORCA Children’s Advocacy Centre Society.
Catherine was awarded the 2008 Contribution to the Law Award from the Victoria Bar Association in recognition of her work on a case involving the Charter rights of Victoria’s homeless. In 2009, she received a Human Rights Honours Award, sponsored by the Vancouver Island Human Rights Institute and presented by the Honourable Stephen L. Point. In 2016, Catherine received the George S. Goyer QC Memorial Award for Distinguished Service, and in 2017, she was honoured with the designation of Queen’s (King’s) Counsel.
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For the last 37 years, David Nahwegahbow has advocated for the rights of First Nations peoples. He has represented First Nations in land claims, Treaty and Aboriginal rights, title cases and has appeared in courts at every level on a wide range of Indigenous legal matters, including at the Supreme Court of Canada in landmark Aboriginal law cases such as Tsilhqot’in.
The Founding Partner of the Firm, David received his LLB from the University of Ottawa and was called to the Bar of Ontario in 1982.
David currently sits on the board of directors of the Advocate’s Society. He is a founding member and former President of the Indigenous Bar Association (IBA). In 2003, he received the Indigenous People’s Counsel (IPC) designation from the IBA.
In 2008, David received the National Aboriginal Achievement Award (now Indspire Awards) for Law and Justice. In 2010, the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Law inducted David into the Common Law Honour Society – a prestigious Alumni distinction. In 2011, the Law Society of Upper Canada granted him with the Law Society Medal. David was also recognized with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Anishinabek Nation.
David is Anishinabe from Whitefish River First Nation. He and his wife Lois have two children.
Meet the Faculty
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Dianne Corbiere is the Managing Partner of the Firm. Dianne has dedicated her career to working for First Nations. She has vast experience working in Aboriginal law, specializing in Treaty and Aboriginal rights for First Nations representing First Nations across Canada, but mostly in Ontario.
Dianne received her Honours Bachelor of Social Work from Laurentian University and her LLB from the University of Toronto. She was called to the Bar of Ontario in 1998 and became a partner in 2000.
Dianne is honoured and excited to receive this year’s 2019 Indspire Award – Law & Justice. The Indspire Award represents the highest honour that the Indigenous community bestows on its own people. She also served as a Bencher (from 2015 to 2019) for the Law Society of Upper Canada. In 2013, Dianne received the Indigenous People’s Counsel (IPC) designation from the Indigenous Bar Association.
She is the past President and Board member of the Indigenous Bar Association and past Chair of the National Secretariat on Hate and Racism Canada. In 2012, Dianne was recognized as one of the Top 25 Most Influential Lawyers in the ‘Changemaker’ category by Canadian Lawyer magazine. She is a sought-after speaker on a wide range of Indigenous issues and is a recognized mentor for young Indigenous lawyers and a champion for access to justice.
Dianne is Anishinabe from M’Chigeeng First Nation and she and her husband Greg have two children. In her spare time, she enjoys playing tennis and skiing with her family.
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Professor Coyle joined the Western University Faculty of Law in 2000. His primary research interests relate to aboriginal rights and dispute resolution theory.
In 2004 he was commissioned by the Ipperwash Inquiry to write its background research paper on Aboriginal land claims and treaty rights in Ontario. In the past four years he has been invited twice by the Senate Standing Committee on Aboriginal Peoples to present submissions to the Committee on land claims reform. In 2005, together with a group of academics from across the country, he received a five-year SSHRC grant to investigate the negotiation of Aboriginal governance.
He has been the recipient of a UWO international research grant to investigate the role of power relations in indigenous dispute resolution, and in 2008 he was named the first MacCormick Fellow by the University of Edinburgh Law School. In 2011 Michael received a three-year SSHRC research grant to investigate the legal paradigms that might be applied to govern the modern implementation of historical treaties. In 2017 he received another SSHRC grant to synthesise the published literature on the revitalization of Indigenous legal orders in Canada.
Professor Coyle has published many articles on the status of treaties and systemic issues relating to the negotiated settlement of Indigenous rights claims. Along with John Borrows, he is the co-editor of The Right Relationship: Reimagining the Implementation of Historical Treaties (U of T Press, 2017).
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Partner, Duboff Edwards Schachter, Winnipeg, MB
After completing her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Conflict Resolution at the University of Winnipeg, Kaitlyn studied Law at Bond University in Australia where she was the Sporting Clubs and Events Director on the Bond University Students Association and competed at the Australian University Games. She also worked for the Director of Public Prosecutions in Brisbane.
Kaitlyn joined Duboff Edwards Schachter in 2012 as an Articling Student and became an Associate in June 2013.
At the community level, Kaitlyn is on the Board of Directors of Ten Ten Sinclair Housing Inc. and Motionball. Additionally, she assists a number of club sports teams as a coach and mentor.
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Brian’s broad practice spans commercial litigation, general civil litigation, competition law, criminal, administrative and regulatory law and aboriginal law. Brian is currently recognized by Best Lawyers® in six categories: Administrative and Public Law, Appellate Practice, Bet-the-Company Litigation, Corporate and Commercial Litigation, Criminal Defence and Health Care Law. He has consistently been given an AV ® (preeminent) rating by the Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review Ratings system. In recognition of his role in advocating on behalf of his clients, Brian was awarded the Law Society Medal in 2022 and received the Benchmark Litigation Canada Hall of Fame Award in 2023.
Prior to joining Stockwoods in 1994, Brian served as counsel in the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General’s Crown Law Office – Criminal representing the Crown in appeals before the Ontario Court of Appeal and Supreme Court of Canada and conducting special prosecutions. From 1991-1993 he served as the Executive Legal Officer to Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice.
From 2018-2019, Brian was President of The Advocates’ Society, a national organization dedicated to promoting effective advocacy and access to justice. He is a Fellow of both the American College of Trial Lawyers (and member, Journal Editorial Board and Advocacy in the 21st Century Committee) and the International Academy of Trial Lawyers (and also an Executive Committee member, Secretary-Treasurer and a Director). He is also an Honorary Overseas Member of The Commercial Bar Association of the U.K. (Combar).
Brian has frequently acted as counsel at both federal and provincial commissions of inquiry. For example, he served as commission counsel on the Walkerton Inquiry, Commission of Inquiry into the Actions of Canadian Officials in Relation to Maher Arar (“Arar Commission”) and the Commission of Inquiry into the Investigation of the Bombing of Air India Flight 182 (“Air India Inquiry”) and was lead counsel for the Office of the Chief Coroner of Ontario at the Inquiry into Pediatric Forensic Pathology in Ontario (“Goudge Inquiry”). Most recently, Brian appeared as counsel at the Public Order Emergency Commission. He has also been counsel at a number of major inquests.
He is regularly retained to advise and represent judges facing disciplinary proceedings.
Brian speaks and writes on a broad variety of topics and regularly contributes to continuing legal education programs. He has served as an Adjunct Professor at Western University’s Faculty of Law and at Osgoode Hall Law School, where he taught administrative law.
He attended law school at Western University (B.A., 1978; LL.B., 1981) and was admitted to the Ontario Bar in 1983.
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Roger Jones plays a critical role in key legal and political developments internationally and in Canada. This includes the development of the United Nations Declaration on Indigenous Peoples, the Canadian constitution negotiations, the Federal Crown First Nations Political Accord in 2005, the Ipperwash Inquiry in Ontario and the emerging developments on a wide range of matters such as consultation and accommodation, treaty implementation and resource revenue sharing. Mr. Jones was the founding president of the Indigenous Bar Association, served on the Board, and the former Vice-Chair, Native Law section of the Canadian Bar Association. He presently works as the Legal Advisor to the Assembly of First Nations.
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Murray Rankin was elected as the MLA for Oak Bay-Gordon Head in 2020. He has served as Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation since 2020 and has also served as Attorney General.
Murray is a lawyer with expertise in environmental, Indigenous, and public law. He holds law degrees from the University of Toronto and Harvard Law School.
He served as the member of parliament for Victoria from 2012-19. During this period, he was appointed justice and attorney general critic, health critic, and served as NDP House Leader. In 2018, he was nominated by his colleagues from all parties as a finalist for Maclean’s Magazine’s “Hardest Working Parliamentarian”.
From 2019-20, he was the chair of Canada’s National Security and Intelligence Review Agency, overseeing all national security and intelligence activities carried out by the Government of Canada.
Previously he was a University of Victoria professor of law and taught environmental and administrative law. During this period, he developed groups such as the West Coast Environmental Law Association, and the BC Public Interest Advocacy Centre.
Throughout his career, he has been a dedicated advocate for climate action, accessible health care and child care, and has worked extensively to advance reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples.
Murray Rankin lives in Oak Bay with his spouse, Linda Hannah. They have two adult sons, Ben and Mark, and two grandchildren.
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Associate Professor, University of Victoria, School of Indigenous Governance
Heidi Kiiwetinepinesiik Stark, BA (Minnesota), MA (Minnesota), PhD (Minnesota), (Turtle Mountain Ojibwe) received her PhD in AmericanStudies from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, in 2008.
Her doctoral research focused on Anishinaabe treaty-making with the United States andCanada and serves as the foundation for her manuscript, Unsettled: Anishinaabe Treaty-Relations and U.S./Canada State-Formation (in progress, University of Minnesota Press, FirstPeoples Series).
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Kent Roach was appointed as a Member of the Order of Canada in 2015 for his “steadfast defence of the rights of Canadian both as a scholar and a litigator”. His 17 books include Constitutional Remedies in Canada (winner of the Owen Prize); Due Process and Victims’ Rights (short listed for the Donner Prize), The Supreme Court on Trial (same); (with Robert J. Sharpe) Brian Dickson: A Judge’s Journey (winner of the Dafoe Prize); The 9/11 Effect: Comparative Counter-Terrorism (co-winner of the Mundell Medal); (with Craig Forcese) False Security: The Radicalization of Canadian Anti-Terrorism (winner of the Canadian Law and Society Association best book prize); Canadian Justice, Indigenous Injustice: The Gerald Stanley/Colten Boushie Case (short listed for the Shaughnessy Cohen prize for political writing); Remedies for Human Rights Violations: A Two-Track Approach to Supra-national and National Law (runner up for Canadian Council on International law book prize for 2020-21); Canadian Policing: Why and How it Must Change (finalist for the 2022 Balsillie Prize and the 2022 Donner Prize.) and Wrongfully Convicted: Guilty Pleas, Imagined Crimes and What Canada Must Do To Safeguard Justice (finalist for the 2023 Donner Prize) He is also the author of the Criminal Law and Charter volumes in Irwin Law’s essentials of Canadian law series now in its 8th and 7th editions respectively. His next book will be Justice For Some: Comparative Miscarriages of Justice and Wrongful Convictions to be published by Cambridge University Press in 2026. He has served as a research director for the Air India and Goudge commissions as well as for the Miscarriages of Justice Report by Justices LaForme and Westmoreland-Traore. He is the co-founder of the Canadian Registry of Wrongful Convictions. He works on policing issues with the British Columbia First Nations Justice Council. He has represented intervenors over ten times in the Supreme Court of Canada including in Corbiere, Gladue, Sauve, Latimer, and Ward and his work on constitutional remedies and criminal justice is frequently cited by courts.
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Mark is a Métis lawyer whose family originates from the historic Métis community of Lac St Anne, Alberta. He has a Masters of Law from the University of British Columbia, Bachelor of Law from McGill University, and Master of International Relations from Jawaharlal Nehru University in India. His deep spiritual beliefs come from his mother and the time spent in India.
Mark was the 2016 Indspire Award (formerly National Aboriginal Achievement Award) for Law and Justice. In 2009 Mark received the Indigenous Peoples’ Counsel (IPC) designation from the Indigenous Bar Association, which recognizes outstanding accomplishments achieved with honour and integrity.
Mark’s career began in 1982 at the Privy Council in Ottawa working on Indigenous constitutional matters. He then worked as Legal Counsel for the Ontario Native Affairs Secretariat from 1987 to 1991, and as a Chief Treaty Negotiator with the Government of British Columbia from 1991 to 1998, when he entered private practice to work with First Nations in the British Columbia Treaty Process.
In addition to his work in treaty negotiations, Mark has negotiated a wide variety of agreements on behalf of Indigenous People including Oil, Gas and Mineral Revenue Sharing Agreements, Pipeline Agreements, Forestry Agreements, and Impact Benefit Agreements linked with Hydro mega projects. He was also instrumental in the development of the First Nations Financial Management Act, the settlement legislation for the Tsawwassen Final Agreement.
Mark is a past President of the Indigenous Bar Association as well as the founding president of Aboriginal Legal Services of Toronto. Mark also served as a commissioner for the Law Commission of Canada, and is a board member of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association. Mark has published numerous articles on aboriginal law issues, and in particular on Métis Rights issues.
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Duke Peltier is a former Chief of Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory, a distinguished leader within the Anishinaabe community, and a dedicated advocate for Indigenous rights. As a spokesperson for the Robinson Huron Treaty, Duke works tirelessly to uphold treaty obligations and advance justice for First Nations communities. His commitment extends to strengthening the sovereignty and preserving the cultural heritage of his people, while fostering meaningful collaboration and understanding between Indigenous and non-Indigenous groups.
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Harley Schachter is one of the founding partners of the Winnipeg law firm of Duboff Edwards Schachter Law Corporation. His practice focuses on all types of litigation and alternate dispute resolution, including Aboriginal law, Constitutional law, Insurance law and civil litigation.
Practicing for close to 30 years, Harley appears in all levels of courts, and has significant experience in the superior courts in several provinces, including Manitoba, Ontario and British Columbia, the Federal Courts and in the Supreme Court of Canada.
In addition to being legal counsel representing Aboriginal groups in a number of precedent setting Aboriginal and Treaty rights cases and Judicial Review cases, Harley has negotiated numerous multi-million dollar out-of-court settlements, including a number of major Hydro settlements.
Harley is experienced in the field of Alternate Dispute Resolution, and helped develop the dispute resolution model on which the Indian Residential School Independent Assessment Process was based, and has helped Aboriginal communities resolve significant internal governance disputes.
Harley is a past two-term chair of the Aboriginal law subsection of the Manitoba Bar Association, and taught Aboriginal law at the University of Winnipeg. He speaks from time to time on a wide range of topics at various symposia and continuing education conferences which are organized by private organizations, bar associations, and law societies.
Harley is often consulted by, and collaborates with many other Aboriginal rights lawyers across the country who, like Harley, strive for excellence. He considers his greatest achievements to be not the battles that have been won, but the people he has helped along the way, and the relationships that have been forged in the process.
Harley attended the University of Manitoba’s Robson Hall Law School graduating in 1983. Called to the Manitoba Bar in 1984 and the British Columbia Bar in 1999, he assists clients from across the country from the firm’s Vancouver and Winnipeg offices.
Registration Form
Program:
Honouring Treaties: Respect, Nation to Nation Relationships and Revenue Sharing
Date:
February 4 & 5, 2025
Location:
National Arts Centre (1 Elgin Street - Salon), Ottawa, ON
Registration:
The registration fee is $1,465.00 plus HST of $190.45 totalling $1,655.45 for in-person attendance. Registration fee covers your attendance at the program and electronic materials. In-person attendance includes a catered lunch and refreshments throughout the day.
Early Bird Discount:
Register by January 6, 2025 and receive a $200 discount on the registration fee ($1,265.00 plus $164.45 HST totaling $1,429.45). Discounts cannot be combined.
Group Discount:
Register four persons from the same organization at the same time and you are entitled to a complimentary fifth registration. Discounts cannot be combined.
If you would like to register a group, please fill out this form and email it to registrations@pbli.com:
Payment:
You may pay by VISA, Mastercard or cheque. Cheques should be made payable to the Pacific Business & Law Institute and mailed to Unit 2-2246 Spruce Street, Vancouver, BC V6H 2P3. Please do not send cheques via courier with signature required.
When and Where:
Check-in begins at 8:30 a.m. The program starts at 9:00 a.m. (ET). The National Arts Centre is located at 1 Elgin Street in Ottawa, ON, and our event will take place in the Salon. Please visit https://nac-cna.ca/en/visit/directions for directions.
Materials:
The faculty will prepare papers and/or other materials explaining many of the points raised during this program. Materials will be distributed electronically. Please contact us at registrations@pbli.com if you are unable to attend the program and wish to purchase a set of materials.
Cancellations/Transfers:
Refunds will be given for cancellations (less a $60.00 administration fee) if notice is received in writing five full business days prior to the program (January 28, 2025). After that time we are unable to refund registration fees. Substitutions will be permitted. We reserve the right to cancel, change or revise the date, faculty, content, availability of webinar or venue and transfer in-person registration to webinar registration for this event.
To register by phone:
Telephone us: 604-730-2500
Your Privacy:
We will keep all information that you provide to us in strict confidence, other than to prepare a delegate list containing your name, title, firm and city for our faculty and the program delegates. We do not share our mailing lists with any non-affiliated organization.
Course Accreditation:
Attendance at this course can be listed for up to 10.25 hours of continuing professional development credits with the Law Society of BC. For practitioners in other jurisdictions, please check your governing body’s CPD requirements.
If you would like to register a group, please fill out this form (DOWNLOAD FORM) and email it to registrations@pbli.com; for individual registration, please continue with form below.