Plenary Session 2

Scott Franks is an assistant professor in the Lincoln Alexander School of Law. His doctoral research investigates the judicial construction of Métis legal identity in the Alberta Métis settlements. His LLM research investigated barriers and opportunities to the implementation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Calls to Action in law schools.

Franks clerked for the Honorable Madam Justice Andromache Karakatsanis at the Supreme Court of Canada and practised at Olthuis Kleer Townshend L.L.P., a national Indigenous rights law firm. He has a juris doctor from Osgoode Hall Law School and is an alum of McGill University (Political Science) and Lester B. Pearson, United World College of the Pacific. Franks is a citizen of the Manitoba Métis Federation and is from northern Saskatchewan.

Cathy Guirguis is a partner at OKT LLP. Her practice is focussed on advancing Aboriginal and treaty rights through litigation and negotiation. Cathy has represented clients in applications and actions in Ontario and Manitoba, as well as in federal court and at the Supreme Court of Canada. She has also represented Indigenous clients in proceedings and tribunals regarding election processes, labour and employment, and environmental assessment. Cathy provides negotiation advice regarding Aboriginal and treaty rights, land claims, and consultation, and she also advises clients on day-to-day employment matters and governance administration. She received her LL.B. from Osgoode Hall Law School, and she also has a Masters of Environmental Studies.

While at law school, Cathy was a senior editor of the Osgoode Hall Law Journal and she volunteered at Osgoode’s Community Legal Aid Services Program, and Downsview Legal Aid Clinic. She has also worked with the Centre for Indigenous Environmental Resources (CIER), working on projects dealing with the duty to consult and accommodate, and indigenous environmental laws. Prior to law, Cathy worked in international development and she has a background in journalism.

Drew Lafond serves as President of the Indigenous Bar Association and is a Partner at MLT Aikins. In his role at MLT Aikins Drew provides advice to businesses on corporate structure, finance, governance and cannabis, liquor and gaming licensing. He also has extensive experience advising Indigenous clients on governance and jurisdictional issues.

Drew advises clients on matters related to economic development, gaming, housing, commercial leasing, corporate governance, structure and finance.

Drew has also worked on nearly all aspects of the commercial side of cannabis, including incorporating and organizing licensed producers under the medical and recreational regimes, setting up licensed retailers in both Alberta and Saskatchewan, and advising on the process and considerations required to regulate on-reserve cannabis.

Drew was raised in Treaty 6 territory on the Muskeg Lake Cree Nation reserve and is also of Shuswap descent from the Simpcw First Nation in British Columbia.

Dr. Pooja Parmar is an Associate Professor at UVic Faculty of Law. Her current research focuses on the legal profession, its history, and ethical lawyering. She is currently involved in projects on legal professionals in Canada, India and Bhutan. One of these is a SSHRC-funded study of Indigenous laws as sources of ethical legal practice in BC. Much of Dr. Parmar’s research is informed by her interest in legal pluralism and questions of legal epistemology in multi-juridical spaces. In her published research Dr. Parmar has examined aspects of human right to water, Indigeneity, oral history and Indigenous claims, lawyers as translators across legal worlds, intersections of law and colonialism, and land, law and development. 

Dr. Parmar joined the Faculty of Law in 2015. She received a PhD in Law from UBC, and has previously taught at Carleton University, Osgoode Hall Law School, and UBC Faculty of Law. At UVic Law Dr. Parmar teaches legal ethics and professionalism, property law, and international human rights law. She is currently supervising graduate research on legal history, law and colonialism, Indigenous rights and access to justice, environmental & social justice. Prior to commencing graduate research, she practiced law in New Delhi for several years.

Paul Seaman is a partner at Gowling WLG. He is a citizen of the Manitoba Métis Federation and active member of the Saskatchewan Métis community

A partner in Gowling WLG’s Indigenous and Environmental Law groups, and working out of the firm’s Toronto and Vancouver offices, Seaman has a leading national practice and acts on complex constitutional, regulatory, and transactional matters. His Indigenous law practice focuses on projects and transactions where the Crown’s duty to consult Indigenous Peoples is engaged. This includes acting for clients in the contexts of formal regulatory processes, and government-to-government and commercial negotiations involving Indigenous communities, industry and government.

In its 2019 and 2020 editions, the Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory recognized Seaman as a top Indigenous law lawyer. Legal 500 Canada 2021 has also recently recognized him as a top recommended lawyer for Indigenous law.