Sara Mainville

Self-Government and Self-determination

Advancing Treaty Implementation through Indigenous and Canadian legal measures

Law-making within Indigenous Legal Orders and legislative drafting

Cannabis, Gaming, and Tobacco Law

Entertainment Law and Indigenous Intellectual Property/Copyright

During her early practice years with a well-known Anishinaabe law firm, Sara completed her LL.M (University of Toronto) and a thesis titled: Manidoo Mazina’igan: An Anishinaabe perspective Treaty 3, which was one of the earliest examples of Indigenous (“Miinigoziwin”) constitutional research by a legal practitioner.

Sara continues to work with First Nations and Inuit clients and is one of the few practicing lawyers that works as much within Indigenous legal orders as within the Canadian constitutional order (“Aboriginal law”).

In 2014, Sara was elected as Chief of Couchiching First Nation after the sudden death of her friend and mentor, Chief Chuck McPherson. During that term she ensured that the First Nation has strong policy going forward, a good social media presence to engage the many off-reserve members in community affairs and she livestreamed her Chief and Council and community meetings. Sara uses this experience as a former Chief to help leadership work past difficult issues, within Indigenous forms of dispute resolution, and walk the community through processes to encourage discourse and grassroots solutions to long-held problems. Sara is a strong believer that self-determination requires the Indigenization of our policies, approaches, and legal frameworks.

Sara Mainville is very proud of her participation in the negotiations that led to the creation of the First Nation Sovereign Wealth LP (FNSWLP), a partnership of 129 First Nations in Ontario. Directed by a Chiefs’ Committee on Energy, Sara was active in the negotiations that resulted in the commercial transaction between the Province of Ontario and the FNSWLP of 14 million Hydro One shares and $29 million in seed capital to facilitate long-term wealth creation for the partnering First Nations. The lengthy discussions to transaction closing were completed between October 2015 to the final days of December 2017.

Sara has completed Advanced Negotiations training at Harvard University and dispute resolution, legislative drafting, and mediation training at professional institutes in order to advance her clients’ long held goals for self-determination and truer treaty partnerships in Canada.

Recently, Sara has received a certificate in Entertainment Law, and she has helped clients with Indigenous intellectual property, copyright, and title issues to accommodate better approaches to recognize collective Indigenous knowledge system, community protocol, and cultural ways and values. She is very committed to mentor JFK Lawyers and facilitate legal practices that are better suited to serve the self-determination and ambitions of our clients.

Sara is generally seen as a subject-matter expert about Crown-Indigenous relations, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Treaty 3, and Anishinaabe Inakonigewin. However, Sara sees herself as a life-long learner willing to meet in community, read voraciously, and listen intently to better understand Indigenous knowledge systems across Canada.

Sara Mainville has been a member of the Ontario bar (2005), the BC bar (2022), and the Saskatchewan bar (2024) with specific matter approvals to practice in Nunavut and Quebec. Sara has a Management/Public Administration degree (Lethbridge) and a Bachelor of Laws from Queen’s University. She has a LLM from the University of Toronto, an Advanced Negotiations certificate from Harvard University, a certificate in ADR, Media training, and a Certificate in Entertainment Law (Osgoode PD).

Sara is on the boards of the Ontario Bar Association and the Shine Network. She was formerly on the boards of Ecojustice and the Catherine Donnelly Foundation. Sara Mainville loves to teach and she is part of a team of JFK Lawyers teaching Nation-building and Inherent jurisdiction at Osgoode Law School in Toronto. Sara is also the Managing Partner of JFK Law LLP.

Sara Mainville, Hunting Down a Lasting Relationship with Canada—Will UNDRIP Help?, (2021) 57.1 Osgoode LJ 57.1 (2021) 98-126 https://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/ohlj/vol57/iss1/3/

Sara Mainville, “Treaty Councils and Mutual Reconciliation under Section 35,” (2007) Indigenous Law Journal 142.

Sara Mainville and Renee Pelletier, “UNDRIP, Decision Making, and the Role of Indigenous Peoples” Meinhard Doelle; A. John Sinclair (eds) The Next Generation of Impact Assessment A Critical Review of the Canadian Impact Assessment Act (Toronto: Irwin Law, 2021) link:https://irwinlaw.com/product/the-next-generation-of-impact-assessment/