Cathy Guirguis

Partner

(416) 981-9347

cguirguis@oktlaw.com

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Cathy 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.

Cathy is a member of the Ontario bar. Cathy is listed as a "consistently recommended" lawyer in the Lexpert Directory.

The Services of Cathy Guirguis are provided through a Professional Corporation

Representative Work

One of the lead counsel representing the Saugeen Ojibway Nation in its Aboriginal title claim to water and claim about the Crown’s fiduciary breach and failure to protect their land, currently before the Ontario Superior Court
Lead counsel in a successful judicial review about Ontario’s failure to adequately consult and accommodate the Saugeen Ojibway in respect of aggregate mining in their traditional territory, including the failure to pay reasonable costs of the First Nations’ participation (Saugeen First Nation v. Ontario (MNRF), 2017 ONSC 3456 (CanLII))
Represented the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs in its intervention at the Supreme Court of Canada regarding the Crown’s fiduciary duty to protect Indigenous lands in Williams Lake Indian Band v. Canada [2018] 1SCR 83
Represented Athabascan Chipewyan First Nation in responding to Canada’s application to enforce compliance with the First Nations Financial Transparency Act
Counsel for Pimicikamak in the Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench and Manitoba’s Court of Appeal in defence of their rights to be consulted and accommodated about conveyance of culturally significant lands and sites
Represented Peguis First Nation in its participation at the Manitoba Clean Environment Commission hearings regarding the Keeyask Generation Project
Counsel for First Nations in election disputes about custom election codes in federal court
Represented the family in an inquest about an in-custody death of an Indigenous member of Pimicikamak in Thompson, Manitoba

Publications and Media

Guest Lecture, Tutorial Indigenous and Aboriginal Law, “Saugeen Ojibway Nation’s Water Title Claims”, Lincoln Alexander School of Law, February 1, 2021.
Presentation (with Benjamin Brookwell), “Colonization and Racism: How Legal Structures Affect the Health of Indigenous Peoples”, Indigenous Health Conference (University of Toronto), December 3, 2020.
Guest Lecture, Evidence Law “Oral History Evidence”, Osgoode Hall Law School, November 24, 2020.
Panelist, “Navigating Uncertainty”, Career Panel Webcast, Middle Eastern Canadian Women Lawyers, June 10, 2020.
Presentation (with Sara Mainville), “The Duty to Consult and Accommodate: Moving Beyond Process”, Advanced Administrative Law, Canadian Institute, October 24, 2017.
"Making First Nations financial transparency fair", OKT Blog, October 28, 2015
Presentation, “Defining Aboriginal Title – What the Implications of the Tsilhqot’in Decision are for Canadian Aboriginal Communities and Proponents”, Canadian Institute, June 23, 2015.
“Managing lands for treaty rights: strategies for the duty to consult and cumulative impacts“, presentation at As Long as the Rivers Flow, treaty rights conference, 2014.
"Supreme Court releases decision in Keewatin", with Senwung Luk, OKT Blog, July 11, 2014
“Redefining “Negotiation”: Court Blasts Crown For Unilateral Control of Specific Claims”, OKT Blog, January 31, 2014.

Presentation, “Reconciliation and Infringement of Aboriginal and Treaty Rights: What is ‘Justified’?”, December 9, 2013, The Commons Institute’s Mawai’omi: Investing in Aboriginal Canada Conference.
“West Moberly Supreme Court of Canada Denied Leave to Appeal”, OKT Blog, February 28, 2012.
Presentation, “A General Introduction to the Duty to Consult and Accommodate, (with Roger Townshend), 2012, The Commons Institute.
“BC Court of Appeal takes a step forward in West Moberly”, OKT Blog, June 1, 2011.
Cathy Guirguis (with K. Huda, S. Rahman), “Social Capital and What it Represents: The Experience of the Ultra-Poor in Bangladesh” (2008) 1:3 Journal of Power at 295.
Cathy Guirguis (with S. Allen & Merrell-Ann Phare), “Consulting with the Crown: A Guide for First Nations” (2007) Centre for Indigenous Environmental Resources.
Cathy Guirguis, “Colonial Structures, Displacement & Re-Location: First Nations in the Canadian Legal Context” (2007) York University, Faculty of Environmental Studies.
Senior Editor, Osgoode Hall Law Journal, (2007) 44:3, 44:4, 45:1, 45:2 Osgoode LJ.
Cathy Guirguis (with K. Huda & S. Rahman), “Building Social Capital for the Ultra Poor: Challenges and Achievements” CFPR-TUP Working Paper Series No. 6, Dhaka, Bangladesh: BRAC/Aga Khan Foundation of Canada, 2005 (Paper presented at Social Capital: Definition, Measurement, Applications, The Social Capital Foundation, Malta, September 20-22, 2005).