Lorraine Land is a Partner at OKT, and practices Aboriginal rights and environmental law. She regularly advises Aboriginal clients and appears before Courts and tribunals on Aboriginal land rights and claims, Aboriginal consultation issues, impacts and benefits agreements, energy project reviews, and environmental matters.
Lorraine has a Masters of Environmental Studies (with a concentration on Aboriginal co-management regimes), and a Certificate in Alternative Dispute Resolution. Before she was a lawyer, Lorraine worked for various national church and Aboriginal organizations on Aboriginal rights and environmental issues. Prior to re-joining OKT in 2009, Lorraine was Legal Counsel and the Acting Director of Legal Services for the Government of Nunavut, providing legal advice on a wide range of matters to the territorial government, and (as Acting Director) overseeing the provision of civil legal services in the territory.
In 2009, Lorraine received a Gold Key Alumni Award from Osgoode Hall Law School, for exceptional contributions to the legal profession and society, and accomplishment in the field of law. She is a member of the Ontario, Northwest Territories and Nunavut bars, and has served on the executive of various bar association chapters.
Lorraine is adjunct faculty at Osgoode Hall Law School and in the Osgoode Professional Development Program, teaching courses related to Indigenous peoples and Canadian law. She currently serves on the Board of the Osgoode Hall Law School Alumni Association.
She is the co-editor of the 5th edition of the widely-used Aboriginal Law Handbook. Lorraine is recognized as a leading expert in the field of Aboriginal Law by the Lexpert Directory and Best Lawyers in Canada.
Publications and Media
- Editor, Aboriginal Law Handbook, 5th Edition (Toronto: Thomson Reuters), 2018.
- Doctrine of Discovery: Stolen Lands, Strong Hearts (Participant in documentary about the Doctrine of Discovery, April 2019)
- Indigenous Law and Regulatory Frameworks: The Evolving Landscape (Presentation of Lorraine Land, Ben Bradshaw, Celeste Haldane, Kevin O’Callaghan and Mark Cliffe-Phillips to the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada, March 2019)
- Shared Decision-Making as an Indigenous Rights Solution (Presentation at Ontario Bar Association Confernce, February 2019)
- Recognizing Indigenous Rights: Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (Presentation to the North American Congress for Conservation Biology, July 2018)
- Shared Decision-Making Models for Indigenous Communities (Presentation to the Ontario Bar Association, February 2019).
- SCC clarifies role of National Energy Board in consultation process, OKT Blog July 2017
- ADD: Recent Supreme Court decisions fail to embrace promise of UNDRIP and renewed nation to nation relationship, OKT Blog, July 2017
- OKT partner Lorraine Land explains the two new SCC decisions on consultation and accommodation on BNN
- Who is Afraid of the Big Bad FPIC? The Evolving Integration of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples into Canadian Law and Policy, May 2016
- "Rethinking legal education – the Anishnaabe Law Camp", OKT Blog, September 26, 2016
- "TRC@1: Pop goes the weasel words? Translating UNDRIP into action", OKT Blog, May 12, 2016
- "ACFN Lawsuit Challenges Alberta Consultation Regime", OKT Blog, January 15, 2015
- "The dangerous mythology of vanishing explorers and tragically decimated Indians", OKT Blog, September 11, 2014
- “Creating the Perfect Storm for Conflicts Over Aboriginal Rights?”, OKT Blog Post, February 6, 2014.
- Conference Paper and Presentation, “Creating the Perfect Storm for Conflicts Over Aboriginal Rights: Critical New Developments in the Law of Aboriginal Consultation”, January 27, 2014, Aboriginal Law and Resource Development Conference, Commons Institute (Toronto).
- Presentation, “Decolonizing Relationships: Treaties and Beyond”, March 16, 2013, Annual Conference of the Law Union of Ontario.
- “A Legislative Road Map as Idle No More Revs Up”, OKT Blog Post, January 3, 2013.
- Presentation, “Aboriginal Title and Land Claims”, June 29, 2012, Fundamentals of Aboriginal Law Conference, Canadian Institute (Toronto).
- “Taking a Second Look at Those Attawapiskat Numbers”, OKT Blog Post, December 13, 2011.
- Presentation, “Death By A Thousand Goose Bites: First Nation – Municipal Consultation”, September 21, 2011, Negotiating With Aboriginal Communities Conference, Canadian Institute (Toronto).
- Lorraine Land, “Bearing and Sharing the Duty to Consult and Accommodate in the Grey Areas in Consultation: Municipalities, Crown Corporations and Agents, Commissions, and the Like” (Paper presented at the Aboriginal Law, Consultation and Accommodation Conference, Canadian Institute, February 24, 2011).
- Presentation, “Seeing the Consultation Forest for the Trees: Bearing and Sharing the Duty to Consult and Accommodate in the “Grey” Areas of Consultation”, February 23-24, 2011, Aboriginal Law, Consultation & Accommodation Conference, Canadian Institute (Toronto).
- Co-editor, “Nation to Nation: Aboriginal Sovereignty and the Future of Canada”, with John Bird and Murry MacAdam (Toronto: Citizens for Public Justice, 2003).
- Lorraine Land (with H.W. Roger Townshend), “Land Claims: Stuck in Never-never Land”, in J. Bird, L. Land & M. MacAdam, eds., Nation to Nation, Aboriginal Sovereignty and the Future of Canada (Toronto: Irwin Publishing, 2002).
- Lorraine Land, “Gathering Dust or Gathering Strength? What Should Canada Do with the Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples” in Blindspots: Perspectives on the Federal Government’s Response to the Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (Ottawa: Aboriginal Rights Coalition, 2001).
- Lorraine Land, “Opinion Editorial: Burnt Church One of Many Simmering Hotspots”, September 1999, Toronto Star.
- Lorraine Land, “Playing Environmental Roulette with Aboriginal Cultures”, June 21-22, 1999, A Submission to the Inter-Church Inquiry into Northern Hydro Development and the Churchill-Nelson Hydro-Electric Project (Winnipeg).
- Lorraine Land, “Wîciwetowin – Walking Together. A Resource Kit on Aboriginal Issues” (Toronto: World Vision and the CJL Foundation, 1998).
- Lorraine Land, “Bibles and Blockades” in D. Englestad and J. Bird, ed. Nation to Nation: Aboriginal Sovereignty and the Future of Canada, 1st ed., (Toronto: Stoddart/Anansi: 1992) at 210.
- Lorraine Land, The Toolbox for Justice and Stewardship: A Kit for Activists (Toronto: CJL Foundation, 1992).
Recent Articles
OKT Recognized in Annual Ranking of Experts in Indigenous Law
Lexpert has once again recognized OKT a national leader in the practice of Aboriginal law.
Lexpert conducts extensive surveys each year, to determine the leading experts in specific fields of…
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Job Posting: Director, Finance and Administration
Olthuis Kleer Townshend LLP (“OKT”), is Canada’s largest law firm dedicated to advancing the self-determination and success of Indigenous peoples in a wide range of areas of Canadian law. We…
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