& Partners was appointed as President, Kim Riediger, Hook, Seller & Lundin LLP will serve as Vice President and Kirsi Ralko, Shewchuk, Ormiston, Richardt & Johnson LLP has been elected as Secre-tary/Treasurer.

We would like to encour-age members to contact us at any time to discuss any issues affecting their prac-tice of law. We look for-ward to meeting with you at our semi-annual meeting in Dryden this September.

On March 31, 2017 mem-bers of the KDLA gathered at the Lake of the Woods Brewing Company, Whis-key Lounge for the 2017 Annual General Meeting.

Thank you to all who took the time out of their busy schedules to attend. The Executive was pleased with the turnout at both the meeting and the dinner. We had a number of produc-tive discussions and reports from various committees; most notably, Michael Ras, Executive Director of the

Federation of Ontario Law Associations travelled from southern Ontario to pro-vide an update on the is-sues currently facing On-tario practitioners as well as to inform our membership of the position FOLA is taking on a number of subjects including Practice Resource Centres and Law Libraries, Family Law Re-forms and Pathways to Licensing.

Finally, a new Executive committee has been elect-ed: Carlynne Bell, McAuley

KDLA ANNUAL MEETING by Kim Riediger

Inside this issue:

Articling Student 2

New Associate 2

NAN 3-day conference 3-4

Quicklaw Update 5

Library Acquisitions 6

View from my window 6

Kenora District Law Association

KDLA News SPRING 2017

ADVANCE NOTICE :

FALL SEMI-ANNUAL MEETING

Please mark your calendars

The Fall Semi-Annual meeting of the District of Kenora Law Association will be held on

Friday, September 29 in Dryden,

Location and time to be announced.

Whiskey Lounge at the Lake of the Woods BrewCo was the setting for last month’s AGM.

MEET THE ARTICLING STUDENT

Bachelor of Fine Arts with a minor in Criminology, before attending Lakehead University’s Bora Laskin Faculty of Law. Lakehead’s unique mandate fo-cuses on legal issues unique to Northwestern rural Canada in-cluding Aboriginal law and issues related to Aboriginal people and natural resource law with a focus on mining, forestry and develop-ment.

Over the summer months and during her third year placement Whitney was introduced to the Kenora Legal community while working at Hook, Seller, Lundin LLP where she enjoyed a well-rounded and thorough learning experience. Outside the office, Whitney enjoys nature hikes, photog-raphy, cooking and competitive canine sports and training.

MAJOR SOBISKI MOFFAT WELCOMES NEW ASSOCIATE

Major Sobiski and Moffatt LLP is pleased to welcome Whitney Van Belleghem as an Associate . Whitney first wrote for the KDLA Newsletter in October of 2013 where she shared her expe-riences as a first year law stu-dent. Born and raised in Kenora, Whitney attended the University of Ottawa where she obtained a

Andrea Mason is articling at the Crown Attorney’s office in Ke-nora. She grew up in Belleville, Ontario but left to study at the University of Ottawa. There she obtained an Honour’s Bachelor of Arts with minors in commu-nications and criminology. An-

drea has a lifelong passion for travel and completed her law degree at City University in Lon-don, England. During law school she pushed her boundaries even further studying for a semester at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. Now back in

Canada, Andrea has fallen in love with Northwestern Ontario and hopes to stay beyond her articling term. Kenora is the perfect venue for Andrea to explore the outdoors and build relationships in this active, friendly community.

Whitney Van Belleghem has joined Mjor Sobiski & Moffat LLP.

Page 2 KDLA NEWS

NEW KDLA EXECUTIVE  

Congratula ons to the new execu ve as elected at the recent KDLA AGM. 

President—CARLYNNE S. BELL    

McAuley & Partners, Dryden 

VP—KIM RIEDIGER  

Hook Seller & Lundin LLP,  Kenora  

Secretary/Treasurer  KIRSI RALKO 

Shewchuk Ormiston Richardt & Johnson  LLP,   Kenora  

Andrea Mason is arti-cling at the Crown At-torney’s office in Kenora

In an article published in 2015 subtitled “How Canada will re-turn to its historic past of co-equality among the races and cultures,” Douglas Sanderson, an Associate Professor at U of T Law School, argued that First Nation’s communities should be given legal jurisdiction over their own lands. Writing in the inter-national magazine Global Brief, Sanderson suggested that Cana-da would stride confidently to-ward reconciliation by doing three things: instituting a system of transfer payments like those received by the provinces, from the federal government to First Nations; by allowing local taxa-tion to support local governance and infrastructure; and by offi-cially recognizing indigenous languages. This is the way things are heading, towards autonomy for First Nations, he argued, with the recognition of entire traditional territories in B.C’s Tsilhquot’in decision and through interpretation of the protections afforded under s. 35 of the Con-stitution Act’s, which is driving towards increased consultation, for example on resource devel-opment. In her opening remarks to Nish-nawbe-Aski Legal’s three day conference held March 21-23rd in Sioux Lookout., Director Celina Reitberger said there is a ground swell of support for the idea that First Nations should take control over their own gov-ernment and legal systems. Enti-tled “The Revitalization of In-digenous Legal Traditions and Bylaw Enforcement,” the con-ference split the topic up into sections, one for each day: Revi-talizing Indigenous Traditions, Intoxicant Bylaws and Gladue (the court decision that estab-lished that courts take into ac-count mitigating circumstances and alternative sentencing possi-

bilities like restorative justice in cases involving First Nation’s people). Fred Thomas gave the opening prayer and then Frank McKay from Sachigo Lake First Nation and Vernon Morris from Musk-rat Dam First Nation welcomed everyone and made introductory remarks. McKay noted some pivotal mo-ments in history. It was after an inquiry into an incident in which an Osnaburgh member came out of jail paralyzed for life that The Osnaburgh-Windigo Justice Council was created and it was recommended that First Nations people pursue their own justice system. The Elders have said that communities always had their own ways to keep law and order. Making bylaws was seen as a way to use the justice system that has been imposed on First Nations communities to achieve the same results as the traditional ways. But bylaws have not suc-ceeded because of lack of re-sources. Officers and courts have refused to enforce bylaws. Morris recalled the time when he grew up in Muskrat Dam, how people took responsibility for their day to day needs through hunting and fishing and support-ing each other. The key to peace in the community, he said, was that people paid attention to what was going on every day: “Even if there were minor is-sues, the community got togeth-er right away. I don’t recall any-one being severely punished because problems were never left until it was too late. Right away we got together…” Morris was involved when the court system came. It was invit-ed into the community, he said:

“We told them to give us sup-port, but reminded them that the community is ours.” The situa-tion in a small community is different than in the city, he continued. If you have a conflict with someone, you can’t escape it and it can fester. But the El-ders could deal with situations like that: they would tell people to their faces when they were wrong. Mike Morris of Kasabonika spoke about his own experience of community justice. When he was a boy, everyone had some-thing to do, from the youngest to the oldest. Laws were devel-oped in the community. For example, he recalled how one day visitors came. They were Cree people come to discuss how their families and his own would go about on their tradi-tional lands. By meeting together the families set ground rules. Morris pointed out that nowhere in the James Bay Treaty, a docu-ment his grandfather signed on his behalf, is sovereignty given up. First Nations people have been trying too hard to fit into things they are not, like trying to push a square peg into a round hole, the only way is if you lose four sides. Those four sides are indigenous rights, language rights, treaty rights and govern-ance. First Nations people need to stand up for their rights, even if it means risking going to jail. More is needed, Morris said. It is not enough to work with what exists now. He used the parable of the lost sheep: if one is lost, you leave the flock and go to find it. Morris also spoke from personal experience about resolving con-flicts through family gatherings. If two people had a problem, Continued on p. 4

DRUMMING ALCOHOL OUT OF FIRST NATIONS COMMUNITIES: Are Intoxicant bylaws the way forward? By Robert Labossiere

Page 3 SPRING 2017

“If you have a

conflict with

someone, you

can’t escapei it,

and it can

fester. “

Drumming continued from p. 3

they would bring the families together into a circle. Problems were often not just about the two people, but something that was happening between the fam-ily groups; there were collective rights that needed to be recon-ciled. After hearing everyone, the Elders would tell them what they needed to do and Council would make sure that what was agreed upon got done. Later in the afternoon, John Fox talked about the Restorative Justice process, describing his journey from hunting and trap-ping with his parents as a boy, to losing his way for many years, falling into the depths of addic-tion, drug dealing and despair until finally he found his way out. He used a diagram to show the relationship between tradi-tion and the present, illustrating how disconnection from the past leads to losing one’s way and how keeping connected to tradi-tions is the way toward healing and wholeness. On the second day, lawyer Ty-ance Fiddler, a member of Sandy Lake First Nation, led a discus-sion about bylaws. Under the Indian Act, First Nations are allowed to make bylaws, which apply only on reserve land. The Indian Act restricts the type of things a bylaw can be about and also specifies the maximum pen-alties. One of the areas in which

First Nations can make bylaws covers intoxicants, but not all intoxicants, just alcohol. The meeting quickly moved into discussion. Many problems were identified; police that do not respond to complaints; Crown prosecutors who will not act on bylaw charges. Even the legiti-macy of bylaws is questionable, Mike Morris said, because a by-law might be passed by 20 peo-ple who show up at a meeting but then is supposed to apply to the 1000 people who live in the community. Still, others in attendance saw reason for hope. There is a lot of interest in bylaws right now. If community justice committees can be formed, along with an appeal mechanism, then NAPS can see a point to enforcement. Representatives from NAPS said they will issue tickets if there is a system in place. The courts will have a role to play but it won’t be the most important part. The session ended with someone telling a story about someone giving alcohol to an 11 year old. There were issues about which section of the Criminal Code should apply and how charges were laid and the Crown refused to prosecute. Everyone is dis-couraged when this happens. A few weeks later, I attended a storytelling event at the Sioux

Lookout Museum. A short film called The Grandfather Drum was screened. In beautiful hand-drawn animation, it told the story of how a big drum was used traditionally in First Na-tions communities for healing. People would come from far away to access the healing power of a communal drumming cere-mony. The drum was taken away one day and the community fell into distress. The film ends with a hopeful sign: a young person who turns away from drugs, listening to something on his headphones instead, an ancient beat. After the film, Fred Sug-gashie, story consultant and translator for the film, said in response to a question that he felt the drum could only come back to the community when alcohol leaves. So are bylaws the way to get alcohol out of First Nations communities? There are so many questions around their limited scope, reluctance of police to get involved and the courts to even take on cases. But with re-sources, bands could set up jus-tice/healing committees to hold circles, would towards restora-tive justice solutions. The courts, it was felt, should be there too, but only a last resort. That would put the colonial or “settler” jus-tice system into right relation-ship with First Nations, as a support not a substitute.

A still from The Grandfather Drum, an animated short film directed by Michelle Derosier and produced entirely in Thunder Bay.

Page 4 KDLA NEWS

“Disconnection

from the past

leads to Losing

one’s way, and

keeping

connected to

traditions is the

way toward

healing and

wholeness.”

Open water all the way to Keewatin—time to prepare your boats for the season.

Jackie Munro of LexisNexis sent this reminder about access to former CCH publications, now under the LexisNexis banner.

Former CCH Textbooks & Treatises are now available on the Quicklaw platform offering the same ease of use and inte-gration with primary legal con-tent as the Butterworths texts and treatises. Titles include:

Canadian Insurance Law Reporter

Ontario Real Estate Law Guide

Ontario Corporations Law Guide

Canadian Commercial Law Guide

Canada Corporations Law Reports

Canadian Estate Admin-istration Guide

Canadian Family Law Guide

Canadian Employment Benefits & Pension Guide

Canadian Labour Law Reporter

This collection of commentary provides jurisdictional insight for both legislation and case law along with summaries of your practice area. They in-clude interactive tools that allow you to quickly locate information across several top-ics and include:

Roadmaps - Providing a head start on research, use a roadmap to gain a quick summary of any area of law, highlighting the primary areas of focus. Quickly view any associat-ed commentary with em-bedded links directing you to the tools needed to complete your research.

Smart Charts & Tables of Concordance - Quickly compare in-formation and legislation across jurisdictions and narrow down results to the information that you are concerned with.

Electronic CCH Newsletters are also available through Quicklaw. These include:

Corporate Brief Newslet-ter

Commercial Times News-letter

Will Power Newslette

CDN Family Law Matters Newsletter

CDN Employment Bene-fits & Pension Guide Newsletter

Ontario Real Estate De-velopments Newslette

Cand Insurance Law Re-ports Newsletter

Labour Notes Newsletter

ADR Forum Canadian Journal Dispo=ute Reso-lution

CDN Employment Safety & Health Guide Newslet-ter

Directors Manual News-letter

Health Matters Newsletter

ON Accident Benefits Case Summaries

You can sign on to QuickLaw on the workstations in the Law Library.

QUICKLAW UPDATE

Page 5 SPRING 2017

Former CCH

Textbooks &

Treatises are

now available on

the Quicklaw

platform

Supreme Court of Canada Practice 2017

 

NEW CLE  

From LSUC 

7th Annual In-House Coun-sel Summit

21st Annual Intellectual Property Law: The Year in Review

The Annotated Alter Ego Trust and Discretionary Trust 2017

NEW BOOKS 

2017 Annotated Ontario Personal Property Security Act ( McLaren)

The Charter of Rights and Freedoms – 6th ed (Sharpe & Roach)

Constitutional Law – 5th ed (Monahan, Shaw & Ryan)

Detention and Arrest – 2nd ed (Coughlan & Luther)

Land-Use Planning (Epstein)

Small Claims Court : Proce-dure and Practice – 4th ed (Knight)

The Annotated Powers of Attorney for Property and Personal Care 2017

The Annotated Will 2017

Family Law Practice Basics 2017

A Litigator’s Guide to Dam-ages

The Six-Minute Administra-tive Lawyer 2017

The Six-Minute Commercial Leasing Lawyer 2017

Title and Off-Title Search-ing 2017

District of Kenora Law Association

District Court House 216 Water St. Kenora, Ontario P9N 1S4

 

YOUR LAW 

LIBRARY 

Maria Berezowski, 

Librarian 

PHONE:: 807‐468‐9335 

TOLL FREE:  1‐866‐684‐1164 

FAX:  1‐807‐468‐1758 

E‐MAIL:  lawlib@kmts.ca 

 

HOURS 

Monday, Wednesday, 

Thursday 

8:00 AM ‐ 1:00PM 

Tuesday 

8:00 AM ‐ 2:30 PM 

KDLA EXECUTIVE 

 

President—CARLYNNE S. BELL 

McAuley & Partners, 

Dryden 

VP—KIM RIEDIGER 

Hook Seller & Lundin LLP,  

Kenora  

Secretary/Treasurer 

KIRSI RALKO 

Shewchuk Ormiston Richardt & 

Johnson  LLP,   

Kenora  

 

 

Recent Library Acquisitions

The return of the gulls is a sure-fire sign of spring in Kenora. These gulls will need to find a new place to roost soon, as the ice is receding quickly now that day-time temperatures are consistently above freezing. (taken April 5)

A View from My Window