Cynthia Westaway  

Partner

Executive Summary

Cynthia Westaway is Regional Leader of our Aboriginal Law Focus Group and our Team North, and Counsel in the area of public law. Cynthia focuses her Aboriginal law practice in the North and across Canada on consultation, rights, title and treaty, governance and business development,
and natural resource and energy law as it intersects with Aboriginal lands, interests and economic development.

Prior to joining Borden Ladner Gervais LLP in 2011, Cynthia accumulated 15 years’ experience in these fields of law with the Federal Department of Justice as Head of the Legal Service Unit to the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, as Director of the Trade Law Bureau, an adviser to the Aboriginal Justice Directorate, Consultation Lead and as Team Leader at the Aboriginal Affairs Portfolio (AAP), for litigation across Canada on Aboriginal rights and title, treaty and Métis issues. Before her justice career, she practised as in-house labour counsel to the Canadian Association of University Teachers and an associate lawyer in the fields of labour and employment law.

Cynthia served as a law clerk at both the prestigious Supreme Court of Canada for Madame Justice L’Heureux-Dubé (1998) and the Federal Court for Justice Yvon Pinard (1994).

Representative Work

  • Representing First Nation, Métis and Inuit clients in rights, title and Treaty negotiations and litigation.
  • Negotiating consultation and accommodation protocols and agreements.
  • Providing general advisory services to industry, governments, First Nation, Métis and Inuit clients.
  • Advising on membership, governance and Band Council matters.
  • Providing advisory services on matters relating to Aboriginal businesses and lands in concert with BLG advisers on development agreements, joint ventures, tax planning, banking and other financial structuring.
  • Advising on energy, forestry and other natural resource matters as they relate to Aboriginal law.
  • General labour and employment advice.
  • Providing general public law and related litigation services.
  • Providing mediation and arbitration services.

Publications & Presentations

  • Speaker, "Overlapping Claims and Reconciliation," Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada Conference, March 2013.
  • Speaker, "Analyzing the Relationship between Accommodation, Reconciliation and Compensation: Is Adequate Compensation Enough?," 7th Annual Forum on Aboriginal Law, Consultation & Accommodation, Canadian Institute, February 2013.
  • Speaker, Mitigating Legal Risk for First Nations HR Practitioners," Human Resources Management for First Nationals, Aboriginal and Métis Communities, Infonext, February 2013.
  • Speaker, "Industry/Aboriginal Relations: Doing Business," Aboriginal Land Resource Forum, Insight, January 2013.
  • Speaker, "Recent Developments in Consultation Case Law and the Influence on the Consultation Process," Western Aboriginal Consultation & Negotiation, Canadian Institute, January 2013.
  • Speaker, “Traditional Knowledge and Canadian Intellectual Property: a time for reconciliation” (Panel 1D – Indigenous Peoples in Times of Crisis), CCIL – 41st Annual Conference: SOS International Law: International Law in Times of Crisis and Emergency, November 2012.
  • Speaker, “Resolving Asserted Overlapping Traditional Land Interests Between First Nations,” 11th Annual Aboriginal Law Forum, October 2012.
  • Speaker, “Negotiating Impact Benefit Agreements,” 2012 Conference Canada’s Other Coast, September 2012.
  • Speaker, “Industry & First Nations Relations Protocol,” Industry & First Nations Forum, July 2012.
  • Speaker, “Negotiating and Making Successful Agreements Between Stakeholders,” The Canadian Institute’s Course: The Fundamentals of Aboriginal Law, June 2012.
  • Speaker, “Challenges of Mining Exploration and Development on Reserve Lands,” Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada (AANDC) Mining Workshop, March 2012.
  • Speaker, “New Domestic Consultation Jurisprudence,” Aboriginal Energy Forum, December 2011.
  • Speaker, “Tensions Inherent in the Implementation of the Declaration,” The United Nations Declaration of Indigenous Peoples, Ryerson University, November 2011.
  • Speaker, “Analysing the Caselaw: Who Speaks for the Band” and “Consultation and Accommodation: Implications for Industry,” presentations to Chinese Canadian Business Community, August 2011.