Julie Abouchar

Practice Areas

Julie works with First Nations, Inuit, and Indigenous organizations, businesses, and municipalities in Ontario, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories, and Alberta.

Julie’s clients value her understanding of the interconnections among Indigenous legal issues, land and resource development, and environmental law.

She represents clients involved in regulatory processes and hearings, environmental assessments, negotiating and drafting resource/community benefit agreements, consultation agreements, and protocols.

When fair, win-win solutions cannot be reached, Julie advocates for her clients in court, at tribunals, or through arbitration.

Some recent successes with resource projects:

Legal counsel on many negotiating teams developing community benefit agreements for gold mines in the Timmins, North Bay, Greenstone, and Wawa areas of Northern Ontario, providing First Nations with business opportunities, revenue share, and ongoing environmental collaboration.

Advised a municipal consortium engaging in Indigenous consultation to develop a collaborative process for archaeology, environment, and traditional knowledge studies for broadband cell tower projects in eastern Ontario.

Counsel to an Inuit Organization negotiating, drafting, and implementing groundbreaking Inuit Impact Benefit and Land Tenure Agreements for major gold mine projects in Nunavut, bringing opportunities for Inuit and Inuit businesses

Legal counsel to the First Nation equity partner in a 28 MW $300 Million hydroelectric development project on a northern Ontario river, built by a First Nation business and currently employing First Nations people.

Recent Litigation:

Counsel to the Inuvialuit Game Council as an intervenor in a Judicial Review of a Minister’s decision about caribou management under the Sahtu Land Claim Agreement before the Northwest Territories Supreme Court (2024 NWTSC 37)

Arbitration Counsel to First Nation to resolve a dispute about contractual provisions related to flooding of Reserve lands (March 2024)

Counsel to the Gwich’in Land and Water Board at a Judicial Review of a decision to renew a water licence before the Northwest Territories Supreme Court ( 2023 NWTSC 22. For 1)

Counsel to the Expert Panel for Safe Drinking Water for First Nations, 2006

Assistant Commission Counsel to the Walkerton Inquiry, 2001

Counsel to the Union of New Brunswick Indians (UNBI) at the Canadian Environmental Assessment / National Energy Board hearings into the Maritimes and Northeast Pipeline. The panel’s decision included a key condition jointly recommended by the proponent and UNBI, 1997-1998.

Professional Memberships

Canadian Bar Association (CBA), Law Society of New Brunswick, Law Society of Northwest Territories, Law Society of Nunavut, Law Society of Ontario (Certified Specialist in Environmental Law and in Indigenous Legal Issues), Ontario Bar Association (OBA), and Ontario Water Power Association (OWA).

Publications

Abouchar, J. and McClenaghan, T., Ontario Water Law, Canada Law Book, Toronto, 2014

Various articles are posted on our website - www.willmsshier.com.

Personal

Education - B.Sc. (Hons.), Earth Sciences, University of Waterloo, 1987, LL.B. and B.C.L., McGill University, 1992, Alternative Dispute Resolution, Law Society of New Brunswick, 1995, and LL.M., Environmental Law, University of London, U.K., 1995.

Rankings - The Best Lawyers in Canada - Peer selected annually for Environmental Law and Aboriginal Law, The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory - Peer selected annually for Environmental Law (Consistently Recommended) and Aboriginal Law (Most Frequently 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 Global Leader (Environment 2022) and a National Leader (Canada - Environment 2021).

Julie Abouchar is an Environmental Law Specialist and an Indigenous Legal Issues Specialist certified by The Law Society of Ontario.