Law Society of BC Truth and Reconciliation Symposium

Course Chairs
Herman Van Ommen, QC — President, Law Society of British Columbia, Vancouver
Ardith Walpetko We’dalx Walkem — Member of the Law Society of British Columbia Truth and Reconciliation Advisory Committee; Cedar and Sage Law Corporation, Chilliwack

About the Course Chairs

Herman Van Ommen, QC practices corporate commercial litigation at McCarthy Tétrault LLP in Vancouver where he is the senior partner of the Litigation Group. He was the Regional Managing Partner from 2012 to 2015. He was called to the bar in 1985 while at Shrum Liddle & Hebenton, the predecessor firm.

A Bencher since 2009, Herman is currently Chair of the Executive Committee, Appointments Subcommittee, Litigation Subcommittee, Law Firm Regulation Task Force and Adjudicator Code of Conduct Working Group, Co-Chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Advisory Committee, and a member of the Complainants' Review Committee, Finance and Audit Committee and Insurance Subcommittee.

Herman has served on the executive of the Vancouver Bar Association. He has instructed at the Professional Legal Training Courses and frequently speaks on ethics and practice issues at various client and continuing legal education seminars. Before becoming a Bencher he acted as counsel for the Society in a variety of discipline, credentials, and unauthorized practice cases.

He is a Director of the United Way Lower Mainland and is Chair of its Nominations and Governance Committee. Previously, he was a Director of the Delta Gymnastics Society, managed a PeeWee baseball team and volunteered with Operation Rednose.

Ardith Walpetko We’dalks Walkem is a member of the Nlaka’pamux nation which stretches from the Interior of BC into Washington State. She has a Master of Laws from UBC (with a research focus on Indigenous laws and oral traditions). Ardith has practiced extensively with different Indigenous communities, and in assisting Indigenous communities to assert their Aboriginal Title and Rights and Treaty Rights, with a focus on assisting Indigenous communities to articulate their own laws and legal systems. She has worked as Parents Counsel on CFCSA cases, and as counsel for Indigenous nations in matters involving their child members, and has helped to design systems based on Indigenous laws for children and families. Most recently, she wrote Wrapping Our Ways Around Them: Aboriginal Communities and the CFCSA Guidebook (2015, published by the ShchEma-meet.tkt project) and has worked with Indigenous communities to recover and implement their own laws, in the areas of resource management and child welfare.

Keynote Speaker
The Honourable Judge Steven L. Point, OBC — Provincial Court of British Columbia, Abbotsford (former Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia)
Steven Lewis Point, OBC (Xwe li qwel tel) (born July 28, 1951) is a former Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia whose term of office ended on November 1, 2012. He is currently a provincial court judge in the Fraser Valley.

From 1975-1999 Steven Point served as Chief of the Skowkale First Nation. From 1994 to 1999 he served as Tribal Chair of the Stó:lo Nation. He was the Grand Chief of the Stó:lô Tribal Council.

Steven Point attended the University of British Columbia, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Laws degree in May, 1985. From 1986 to 1989 he practiced criminal law and native law as a partner in the law firm of Point and Shirley. He worked for Citizenship and Immigration Canada as an immigration adjudicator for several years, starting in about 1989, at its refugee backlog office in Vancouver. In 1999, he became a British Columbia Provincial Court judge. On February 28, 2005, he became Chief Commissioner of the British Columbia Treaty Commission.

His appointment as Lieutenant-Governor was announced on September 4, 2007 by Prime Minister Stephen Harper. He assumed his duties in a ceremony at the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia on October 1, 2007. As The Queen's vice-regal representative in British Columbia, he is styled His Honour while in office and The Honourable for life.

He received Honorary Doctorate of Laws degree from the University of the Fraser Valley in 2000, the University
of Victoria in 2012, and the University of Capilano in 2017. He also received an Honorary Doctorate of Sacred Letters (honoris causa) from Saint Mark’s College in 2013. He received the National Aboriginal Achievement Award in 2000. He received the Queen Elizabeth II Golden and Diamond Jubilee medals and the Order of British Columbia. In 2016, he received the Order of Chilliwack.

Facilitators
Patricia M. Barkaskas — Academic Director, Indigenous Community Legal Clinic & Instructor, Peter A. Allard School of Law, University of BC, Vancouver
Tina L. Dion, QC — Barrister & Solicitor, Tsawwassen
Leah Sisi-ya-ama George-Wilson — Gowling WLG (Canada) LLP, Vancouver
Celeste A. Haldane — Chief Commissioner, BC Treaty Commission, Vancouver
Andrea Hilland — Policy Lawyer, Law Society of British Columbia Truth and Reconciliation Advisory Committee, Law Society of BC, Vancouver
Melissa Louie — Morgan & Associates, West Vancouver
Maxine Hayman Matilpi — West Coast Environmental Law, Vancouver
Dr. Bruce McIvor — First Peoples Law, Vancouver
Ardith Walpetko We’dalx Walkem — Member of the Law Society of British Columbia Truth and Reconciliation Advisory Committee; Cedar and Sage Law Corporation, Chilliwack

Click here for full faculty bios »

Conference Opening and Introduction
Coast Salish Welcome

Wes Nahanee — Squamish Nation Cultural Ambassador 

Introduction Plenary – Setting The Stage

• objectives of the symposium
• overview of the day: turning law from a tool of assimilation to a tool for reconciliation
• setting out the guiding questions for the symposium

Ardith Walpetko We’dalx Walkem — Member of the Law Society’s TRC Advisory Committee; Cedar and Sage Law Corporation, Chilliwack
Herman Van Ommen, QC — President, Law Society of British Columbia, Vancouver

Break 

Concurrent Breakout Sessions — Dialogue 

A. Biases in the Practice of Law (webinar participants will view this session)

Facilitator: Andrea Hilland — Policy Lawyer, Law Society of British Columbia, Vancouver

• Indigenous lawyers’ experiences of racism in the legal profession
• how biases infiltrate legal processes and how to address these biases

B. Legal Aid

Facilitator: Celeste A. Haldane — Chief Commissioner, BC Treaty Commission, Vancouver

• Indigenous clients’ need for legal aid
• Law Society’s role in improving availability of legal aid

C. Systemic Biases

Facilitator: Dr. Bruce McIvor — First Peoples Law, Vancouver

• systemic biases against Indigenous people
• what can be done to identify and address systemic biases

D. Competence & Best Practices

Facilitator: Patricia M. Barkaskas — Academic Director, Indigenous Community Legal Clinic & Instructor, Peter A. Allard School of Law, UBC, Vancouver

• standards for competent legal services (cultural competence,trauma-informed)
• ethics, practice standards, best practice guides

Lunch

Keynote Speaker:
The Honourable Judge Steven L. Point, OBC — Provincial Court of British Columbia, Abbotsford (former Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia) 
We Create Our Future By What We Think, Say, and Do Today

Concurrent Breakout Sessions — Dialogue 

A. Lawyer Education (webinar participants will view this session)

Facilitator: Leah Sisi-ya-ama George-Wilson — Gowling WLG (Canada) LLP, Vancouver

• responding to Calls to Action 27 and 28
• law schools, PLTC, NCA, CPD

B. Co-existence of Indigenous and Canadian laws

Facilitator: Maxine Hayman Matilpi — West Coast Environmental Law, Vancouver

• importance of Indigenous approaches to resolving legal issues

C. International Legal Standards

Facilitator: Melissa Louie — Morgan & Associates, West Vancouver

• relevance of international standards in addressing Indigenous legal issues

D. Supporting Indigenous Lawyers

Facilitator: Tina L. Dion, QC — Barrister & Solicitor, Tsawwassen

• recruitment, retention, and advancement of Indigenous Lawyers
• creating space for Indigenous participation in legal organizational governance

Break

Forging a Path of Reconciliation: Gathering Thoughts from Breakout Sessions

• how can the law be used as a tool for reconciliation?
• next steps for Law Society
• commitment to an ongoing process