Specific claims work has been a lifelong commitment for Sara Mainville.
Long before her 2005 call to the bar, Mainville was part of her community’s land claim committee while attending high school in northwest Ontario. Even at that early stage, she already had her eye on the profession.
“I always knew I would go to law school eventually,” Mainville says. “I was interested in self-government for First Nations and I knew that the relationship with the land is very intertwined with governance.”
“I wanted to be involved in the hard legwork of getting specific claims to a place where they could be negotiated and finding solutions for my community,” she adds.
Treaty 3 expertise
During the course of her professional life, Mainville has returned several times to Treaty 3, the 1873 agreement which includes her own community, as well as much of northwest Ontario and southern Manitoba.
“That treaty relationship is really important to me and I realized that so much of the research is unknown to the legal community,” Mainville says.
As an articling student, Mainville became aware of the Grassy Narrows First Nation’s case against the province of Ontario involving clearcutting in Treaty 3 lands, inspiring her to complete her LLM thesis on the agreement: Manidoo Mazina’igan: An Anishinaabe perspective of Treaty 3.
As managing partner of Aboriginal and Constitutional law firm JFK Law LLP, Mainville now helps a variety of First Nations with their own specific claims matters, helping them to seek compensation from Canada for historical wrongs.
This fall, she will bring all that expertise and experience to bear as Program Chair for the Osgoode Professional Development Guide to Navigating Specific Claims.
The two-day program will proceed live online on Nov. 12 and 13, as well as an online replay to follow in December for those who missed the original dates.
Mainville, who leads the program with her Co-Chair and JFK Law partner Claire Truesdale, envisions the brand new OsgoodePD offering as a kind of roadmap for claimants working their way through the specific claims process.
“It’s a long journey to get a specific claim to settlement,” she says.
Expert speakers will take attendees all the way from initial research to post-settlement implementation, stopping off to explore practical strategies around issues such as funding, negotiations with the Crown, trust agreements and proceedings before the Specific Claims Tribunal, where they are required.
Mainville brings a unique perspective to her legal practice and teaching, having served as the elected Chief of Couchiching First Nation. Back in 2014, following the sudden death of her friend and mentor, the serving Chief Chuck McPherson, Mainville stepped into the role, where her priorities included economic development and community engagement with both on- and off-reserve members.
“It was an unforgettable experience and honour,” Mainville says of her two-year stint as chief, admitting that she was glad to return to legal practice at the end of her term.
“I’m much more in my comfort zone as a lawyer, but I’m happy to bring that experience to bear on the complex issues I deal with,” she adds.
Deep OsgoodePD connections
Mainville has deep connections to OsgoodePD, as a former speaker on both The Osgoode Certificate in Fundamentals of Indigenous Peoples and Canadian Law and The Osgoode Certificate in Consultation (and beyond) with Indigenous Peoples.
Like those popular programs, she hopes to make the new Specific Claims program a regular fixture on the Aboriginal Law calendar. In addition to lawyers working for Crown governments or in private practice, Mainville expects to welcome First Nation rightsholders and other professionals whose work touches on specific claims.
“The materials will include take-home documents covering all the key decisions that shape specific claims,” Mainville says. “As an annual program, we’ll be able to build on those resources and update them year over year.”
“There’s also going to be time for networking, so that conversations can happen and participants can learn from others who are concerned about similar issues,” she adds.
Want to learn more about The OsgoodePD Guide to Navigating Specific Claims?