Michael Woods, Senior Partner at Woods, LaFortune LLP will be a panelist at the important and topical Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business’ (CCAB) Hot Topic Series: The Williams Case, on March 12 2015, in Vancouver at the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel. The panel will review this summer’s Supreme Court of Canada ruling on Aboriginal title, which encompassed over 1,700 square kilometers of land in British Columbia, and provided much needed guidance on how to determine Aboriginal title and on the applicability of provincial laws to those lands. The discussion will also touch on and carefully review the implications of this landmark case for First Nations communities in terms of future economic or resource development on Fist Nations land, as well as the implications for those who wish to do business on or invest in Aboriginal title lands. Specifically, the panel will:
- Discuss the implications of Tsilhqot’in on Aboriginal-industry economic partnerships;
- Highlight promising approaches to building Aboriginal-industry economic partnerships within the current legal framework; and
- Discuss where to go from here and how to build stronger, more effective partnerships.
The impressive panel coveted event includes, Robert McPhee (Managing Director of the Castlemain Group), Chuck Strahl (Director and Chairman of the Manning Centre for Building Democracy), Chief Roger William (Tsilhqot’in First Nation), Wayne Garnons-Williams (Senior Lawyer and Principal Director at Garwill Law Professional Corporation) and Michael Woods (Senior Partner at Woods, LaFortune LLP).
In the context of this panel, Michael Woods and Wayne Garnons-Williams of Garwill Law Professional Corporation will address a number of international legal implications for future economic and resource development on First Nations lands. For more details see: https://www.ccab.com/upcoming-events-the-williams-case
