Bench and Bar Education Event "Into the Future"
Meet our Speakers
Christopher Buchanan, President, Law Society of the Northwest Territories; Partner, McLennan Ross LLP
Christopher Buchanan is a Partner at McLennan Ross LLP in Yellowknife. He represents employers and businesses on matters related to all legal aspects of employer-employee relations, human rights complaints, and collective bargaining. Raised in Yellowknife, he is proud to have earned the trust of a variety of clients throughout the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, including individuals, small businesses, governments, Indigenous governments, insurers, and corporations.
The Honourable Thomas Albert Cromwell, C.C., former Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada
The Honourable Thomas Albert Cromwell received law degrees from Queen’s and Oxford, practised law in Kingston and Toronto and taught law at Dalhousie University. During his time at Dalhousie, he was active as a labour arbitrator and served as Vice-chair of the Nova Scotia Labour Relations Board. After serving as Executive Legal Officer to the Chief Justice of Canada from 1992 – 1995, he was appointed a judge of the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal in 1997, serving there until his appointment as a judge of the Supreme Court of Canada in 2008. He retired from the Supreme Court of Canada on September 1st, 2016. Mr. Cromwell was the first recipient of the Canadian Bar Association’s Louis St. Laurent Award of Excellence and is an honorary fellow of Exeter College, Oxford and of the American College of Trial Lawyers. He is the holder of four honorary doctorates in law and an award has been established in his name at the Queen’s Faculty of Law, The Honourable Thomas Cromwell Award for Public Service. A member of the Bars of Nova Scotia, Ontario and British Columbia, he now serves as senior counsel with Borden Ladner Gervais LLP in Ottawa and Vancouver and is on the arbitrator/mediator roster at Arbitration Place. He is a recipient of the Canadian Institute for the Administration of Justice’s Justice Medal and of the Medal of the International Society for the Reform of Criminal Law. In 2017, was named a Companion of the Order of Canada for his “illustrious service as a Supreme Court justice, and for his leadership in improving access to justice for all Canadians.” In 2018, he was named by the Canadian Lawyer Magazine as of one Canada’s most influential lawyers.
Meghan Etter-Cockney, Executive Director, Maligaksat
Meghan Etter-Cockney has lived in Inuvik for over 16 years but is originally from Nova Scotia. She holds a Masters in Counselling Psychology and is currently working on her PhD in the School of Public Health at the University of Alberta. Meghan has worked at Inuvialuit Regional Corporation for over 12 years and in that time held a few different roles, but ultimately was always involved in wellness programs and planning. Recently Meghan left her position as Director of the Health and Wellness to accept the new role of Executive Director for Maligaksat, but has been involved with Maligaksat right from the start.
Mona T. Duckett, K.C.
Mona T. Duckett K.C. Mona served as a Bencher with the Law Society of Alberta from 2000 to 2006, finishing her tenure at the Law Society as its president. She has been a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers since 2003 and recently served four years on the Board as Regent. She is a member and past president of the Criminal Trial Lawyers Association. Mona lectures for continuing legal education programs for lawyers, judges, and police. She is currently a sessional instructor in Advocacy at the University of Alberta Law School and has also taught Professional Responsibility and Advanced Criminal Law. She served for 16 years as a member of the Faculty of the Federation of Canadian Law Societies, National Criminal Law Program. She has produced numerous criminal law papers over the course of her career, and co-authored the texts, Trial of Sexual Offences, and Witness Preparation, Presentation and Assessment. She has served on several Boards for the legal profession and has always made time for volunteering. Mona’s practice and experience spans the spectrum of criminal defence and related administrative law, including professional disciplinary work.
Koren Lightning, K.C., Legal Director, Wahkohtowin Law and Governance Lodge
Koren Lightning, K.C. ’07 LLB, ’18 LLM, CIC.C, Blue Thunderbird Woman, is Cree from Samson Cree Nation. She is the Legal Director of Wahkohtowin Law and Governance Lodge. She is Board Member for First Nations Child and Family Caring Society, Board Member for Women’s Legal Education & Action Fund (LEAF) and Board Member for Peace Hills Insurance. She was Vice-President of Kasohkowew Child Wellness Society for 10 years. She was President of the Indigenous Bar Association for 6 years. She was an Acting Commissioner for Alberta Utilities Commission. She has a Master of Laws from Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, her concentration was Alternative Dispute Resolution. Koren’s work focuses on working with Indigenous clients and supporting the revitalization of Indigenous Laws. Koren advises in the areas of Indigenous Governance, Indigenous Child Welfare, and Indian Act matters. Koren also is an accomplished speaker on Indigenous Cultural Awareness and Relationship Building. She was awarded the “Pringle/Royal sessional teaching excellence” Award from Faculty of Law, University of Alberta, as was awarded the Alumni Horizon Award in 2017. She was awarded “Tomorrow’s Leader” Award from Women in Law Leadership Awards in 2019. Koren is alumni of the Governor General’s Canadian Leadership Conference. She was an elected council member for Samson Cree Nation from 2011-2014 and is co-founder of Hub, a community mobilization program to help reduce crime. She is a sessional instructor at Maskwacîs Cultural College and University of Alberta, Faculty of Law.
Justice Sheila MacPherson, Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories
Justice Sheila M. MacPherson was raised in northern Canada (Inuvik and Frobisher Bay, now Iqaluit). She graduated from Dalhousie Law School in 1987 and was called to the NWT bar in 1988. Justice MacPherson has spent her entire legal career in northern Canada, beginning with the law firm of Cooper Johnson (and its successor partnerships). When that firm merged with the regional law firm Lawson Lundell LLP in 2002, she continued as the senior partner within Lawson Lundell’s Yellowknife-based office. She was responsible for the management of that office and also carried on an active civil litigation experience. She was Law Clerk to the NWT Legislative Assembly for over 25 years. She had extensive experience working in both the NWT and Nunavut in the area of child protection as well as family law. Justice MacPherson was actively involved in the regulation of the legal profession, twice serving as President of the Law Society of the Northwest Territories as well as President of the Federation of Law Societies of Canada. She has a strong interest in human rights, having served as a commissioner with the Canadian Human Rights Commission. She was passionate about mentoring young lawyers and was a member of the organizing committees for the delivery of the intensive trial advocacy programs in both the NWT and iNunavut. Justice MacPherson is married and is the proud mother of a daughter, who is currently studying nursing.
Eugene Meehan, K.C., Supreme Advocacy LLP, Ottawa
Lawyer at Supreme Advocacy LLP, Ottawa. Primary work: Court of Appeal and Supreme Court of Canada, arguing cases or assisting other lawyers in taking cases (both Leave to Appeal and Appeal) to the Supreme Court of Canada, as well as Complex Legal Opinions. Four degrees in law: University of Edinburgh (LL.B.), McGill University (LL.M.), University of Ottawa (LL.B.) and Doctor of Civil Law from McGill University (D.C.L.). Practising member of eight Bars: Ontario, Alberta, N.W.T., Yukon and Nunavut; licenced to practise law in Arizona and Washington, D.C.; member of the U.S. Supreme Court Bar. Executive Legal Officer at Supreme Court of Canada, 1990-1992, acting as principal advisor to the Chief Justice, assisting him with the administration of the Court, the Canadian Judicial Council and the National Judicial Institute. Appointed Queen’s Counsel 1999. National President, Canadian Bar Association, 1999-2000. Former law professor, Universities of Alberta & Ottawa. Authored/co-authored eight books: Supreme Court Manual: Practice & Advocacy (Canada Law Book, 2024, Loose-leaf, updated); Injunctions Practice Guide (Carswell, 1996); Charter of Rights Annotated (Carswell, 1995 & 1996), Canadian Constitutional Documents Consolidated (Carswell, 2nd ed. 2007), Creditors’ Remedies in Ontario (Butterworths, 3rd ed. 2013), Constitutional Law in a Nutshell (Thomson Carswell, 4th ed. 2013), Creditors’ Remedies in Alberta (Carswell, 2nd ed. 1997), The Law of Criminal Attempt in Canada (Thomson Carswell, 3rd ed. 2015). Selected by peers to be included in The 2023 Best Lawyers in Canada for: Public Law, Administrative Law, Indigenous Practice, and Aboriginal Law. Provides legal services to clients and members of the legal profession in French, English, and Scottish.
Sarah Morales (Su-taxwiye), Ph.D., University of Victoria
Sarah Morales (Su-taxwiye), JD (UVic), LLM (University of Arizona), PhD (UVic), PostDoc (Illinois) is Coast Salish and a member of Cowichan Tribes. She is an Associate Professor at the University of Victoria, Faculty of Law, where she teaches torts, transsystemic torts, Coast Salish law and languages, legal research and writing and field schools. Prior to joining the faculty at the University of Victoria, she taught at the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law where she taught Aboriginal law, Indigenous legal traditions and international human rights with a focus on Indigenous peoples. Sarah’s research centres on Indigenous legal traditions, specifically the traditions of the Coast Salish people, Aboriginal law and human rights. She has been active with Indigenous nations and NGOs across Canada in nation building, inherent rights recognition and international human rights law.
Frédéric Pelletier, VP Legal Information, Lexum
Frédéric Pelletier has been a member of the Quebec Bar since 2002 and currently serves as Vice President of Legal Information at Lexum. He is also the Editor-in-Chief of the CanLII website, which he helped to establish. Mr. Pelletier is particularly interested in leveraging technology to enhance the efficiency of legal research and improve access to the law. He has notably coordinated the development and implementation of pan-Canadian standards for the preparation and distribution of court decisions, including the Neutral Citation Standard for Case Law. Additionally, he has contributed to the creation of public access policies for judicial records, ensuring an optimal balance between transparency and the protection of personal information. More recently, his focus has been on the application of generative artificial intelligence in the context of legal research.
The Honourable Justice Annie Piché, Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories
Annie Piché is a Justice of the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories. She was appointed to the Court in June 2024. At the time of her appointment, she was the General Counsel leading the Sexual Violence Team with the Public Prosecution Service of Canada (PPSC) Northwest Territories Regional Office. She holds a law degree from the Université de Montréal (2001) and a Master of Laws from the London School of Economics and Political Science (2004). She articled with the Federal Prosecution Service in 2002 and became a member of the Barreau du Québec the same year. She worked as a Crown prosecutor with the PPSC Quebec Regional Office, where she specialized in drug and organized crime prosecutions. In 2014, she joined the PPSC Northwest Territories Regional Office in Yellowknife where she was responsible for a wide range of criminal prosecutions, including sexual violence and homicide cases. From 2020 to 2022, still based in the Northwest Territories, she held the position of Northern Coordinator and General Counsel with the PPSC Headquarters Counsel Group before returning to the Northwest Territories Regional Office in 2022.
Lesley Ruzicka, K.C. Crown Counsel, B.C. Prosecution Service
Lesley Ruzicka, K.C. is a Crown Counsel with the B.C. Prosecution Service (Criminal Appeals and Special Prosecutions) in Victoria. She received her LL.B. from the University of Victoria in 1998 and clerked for the Supreme Court of British Columbia. Lesley worked as a trial prosecutor before joining the Prosecution Support Unit (PSU) in 2007. The PSU coordinates constitutional litigation on behalf of the B.C. Prosecution Service. With a team of other prosecutors, Lesley provides litigation support to prosecutors on a variety of topics, including Charter applications, media, and Mr. Big-related issues. Lesley also appears at all levels of court with conduct of criminal constitutional litigation (primarily challenges to legislation) and criminal appeals. She has been a contributing author to the Working Manual of Criminal Law (Thomson Reuters) since 2007 and became co-editor in late 2019. Lesley is a frequent contributor to professional development activities both within and outside the B.C. Prosecution Service and has been a faculty member with the National Criminal Law Program since 2017.
Professor Amy Salyzan, University of Ottawa
Amy Salyzyn is a Professor at the Faculty of Law, Common Law Section at the University of Ottawa. Amy is an expert in the area of legal ethics, lawyer regulation, the use of technology in the delivery of legal services and access to justice. At the University of Ottawa, she teaches Torts as well as upper year seminars in legal ethics and the use AI in the legal profession. Amy is called to the bar in Ontario and is currently the Board Chair of the Canadian Association for Legal Ethics. Before coming to the University of Ottawa, Amy served as a judicial law clerk at the Court of Appeal for Ontario and practiced at a Toronto litigation boutique. Her litigation practice included a wide variety of civil and commercial litigation matters including breach of contract, tort, professional negligence, securities litigation and employment law as well as administrative law matters. Amy received her J.S.D. and LL.M. from Yale Law School and her J.D. from the University of Toronto Law School, where she was awarded the Dean’s Key upon graduation.
The Honourable Chief Judge Jeannie Scott, Territorial Court of the Northwest Territories
The Honorable Chief Judge Jeannie Scott was appointed to the Territorial Court of the Northwest Territories in 2021. She was appointed as the Chief Judge of the Territorial Court in October of 2024. Chief Judge Scott has been living and working in the Northwest Territories since 2010 when she moved to Yellowknife from Ottawa. While living in Yellowknife and prior to her appointment, she worked as Crown Prosecutor for the Public Prosecution Service of Canada and as a lawyer for the Government of the Northwest Territories. She graduated from the University of Ottawa with her LLB in 2008 and spent the first years of her legal career with Kelly Santini LLP, a mid-size law firm in Ottawa before moving north.
The Honourable Chief Justice Shannon Smallwood, Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories
The Honourable Chief Justice Shannon Smallwood was appointed to the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories and to the Courts of Appeal of the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Yukon in 2011. She was appointed to the position of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories in September 2022. She is a Sahtu Dene originally from Fort Good Hope, Northwest Territories. She was the first Indigenous Judge appointed in the Northwest Territories and the first Indigenous Chief Justice in the Northwest Territories and on the Canadian Judicial Council.
The Honourable George Strathy, former Chief Justice of Ontario
The Honourable George R. Strathy retired as Chief Justice of Ontario and President of the Court of Appeal for Ontario on August 31, 2022, having served on that Court for nine years. In that capacity, he heard a wide range of complex civil, commercial, family and criminal matters, regularly authoring judgments in all areas. Prior to his appointment to the Court of Appeal, he served as a Judge of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice for five years. For three of those years, he was a member of the Class Actions team, responsible for the judicial oversight and management of approximately 80 class proceedings.
The Honourable Judge Stephanie Whitecloud-Brass, Territorial Court of the Northwest Territories
Judge Stephanie L. Whitecloud-Brass is Dakota/Lakota from the Tatanka Najin Dakota Oyate (Standing Buffalo Dakota Nation) located in south-eastern Saskatchewan. She moved with her family from the city of Saskatoon to Yellowknife in March of 2017 and was appointed to the Territorial Court of the Northwest Territories in December of 2022. Prior to her appointment, Judge Whitecloud-Brass was a criminal defence lawyer with the Legal Aid Commission for the Government of the Northwest Territories. Until then, practicing criminal law was not something she had done since the early years of her legal career, receiving her call to the Saskatchewan Bar in 2008. An alumnus of the University of Saskatchewan’s College of Law, Judge Whitecloud-Brass accumulated the bulk of her legal experience while working with the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations, working as claimant counsel in the Independent Assessment Process as part of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement and as counsel with the City Solicitor’s Office in Saskatoon. Judge Whitecloud-Brass is pleased that we could gather for this event on Chief Drygeese Territory and is honoured to be a part of today’s panel discussion.
