John Donihee

Practice Areas

Environmental Law, Indigenous Legal Issues, and Northern Law.

Career

John Donihee is Of Counsel at Willms & Shier Environmental Lawyers LLP. He is one of Canada’s foremost experts in environmental, regulatory, administrative, and Indigenous legal issues in Canada’s North.

John focuses on environmental approvals for resource development, land claims implementation, and modern treaties in the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and the Yukon. He advises industries, Indigenous groups, governments, and co-management tribunals involved in environmental impact assessment, and land and water regulation for resource development projects in the three Territories. He provides advice to Indigenous organizations about developing and implementing land use plans.

John negotiates impact benefits agreements for Inuit, Inuvialuit and project developers. Northern governments and Indigenous organizations have retained John for counsel about developing new wildlife and species-at-risk legislation and advice to wildlife co-management tribunals.

John has developed management frameworks for water on Aboriginal lands as well as for the regulation of land and water by northern tribunals.

Professional Memberships

Canadian Bar Association (CBA), Law Society of Alberta, Law Society of the Northwest Territories, Law Society of Nunavut, Law Society of the Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut Chamber of Mines, and Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC).

Publications

“Canadian Impact and Benefit Agreements with Local and Indigenous People”, John Donihee and Alastair

R. Lucas, International and Comparative Mineral Law and Policy: Trends and Prospects, Kluwer Law,

Natural Resources and Energy Series, 2004

“Local Control of Wildlife in the NWT”, LLM Thesis, Faculty of Law, University of Calgary, December

2002

“The Evolution of Wildlife Law in Canada”, CIRL Occasional Paper #9, Canadian Institute of Resources

Law, 2000

“Resource Development and the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act: The New Regime”, Douglas

Burch, Jeff Gilmour and John Donihee (Author and Editor), Canadian Institute of Resources Law, 2000

“Mineral Exploration and Mine Development in Nunavut: Working with the New Regulatory Regime”, M.

Hardin and J. Donihee, Canadian Institute of Resources Law, 1998

Canadian Environmental Law, Regional Editor, Northwest Territories and Nunavut regions, Butterworths

Canada, 1998 to present.

Various articles are posted on our website.

Personal

Education - B.Sc. (Hons.), Biology, Carleton University, 1975, M.E.S., Ecological Land Management, York

University, 1977, LL.B., Dalhousie University, 1988, and LL.M., Natural Resources Law, University of

Calgary, 2002.

Rankings - The Best Lawyers in Canada - Peer selected annually for Aboriginal Law, The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory - Peer selected annually for Aboriginal Law (Consistently Recommended), The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory - Listed in the Special Edition on Energy and the Special Edition on Infrastructure, and Who's Who Legal - Listed as a National Leader (Canada - Environment 2021).