New! March, 2008: Read Peter Grant Profile in Winter '08 UBC Alumni Magazine
Called to the Bar: June, 1976 (British Columbia)
PRACTICE
Peter has worked in Aboriginal law since 1976. He acted as part of the defense team for Leonard Peltier on the matter of his extradition from Canada to the U.S.A. in 1976 and assisted in the lobby for a review of the legality of the extradition by Canada. Peter lived in the Gitxsan territory in northern British Columbia from 1977 to 1995. He has specialized particularly in:
- negotiation of residential school settlements;
- negotiation of forestry agreements and hydro power agreements;
- litigation of aboriginal rights and title;
- litigation of treaty rights;
- litigation of claims under the Northern Flood Agreement in Manitoba;
- negotiation of Lands to be transferred to Reserve status;
- compensation for wrongful taking of Reserve Lands;
- litigation and negotiation of claims of Residential School survivors.
BACKGROUND
Peter was one of the lead counsel in Delgamuukw v. The Queen the leading Canadian aboriginal title case from the commencement of the case until its completion in the Supreme Court of Canada. He was also counsel in leading cases on aboriginal fishing rights (R v. Nikal) [SCC]; the duty to consult (Luuxhon v. The Queen) [BCSC] and residential school claims (Blackwater v. Plint [SCC]); Aleck v. Clarke [BCCA]; and Barney v. Plint [SCC].
Peter has been a member of the International Commission on Folk Law and Legal Pluralism since 1981. He was the past Chair of the National Aboriginal Law Section of the Canadian Bar Association. Peter is the CBA representative for aboriginal law on the Federal Bench and Bar Liaison Committee.
Peter is also on the Board of Directors of EAGLE, a national environmental and aboriginal legal education non-profit organization.
Since the Indian Residential School Settlement, Peter has been elected the representative of Independent Counsel on the National Administration Committee [NAC] which is responsible for the implementation of the Indian Residential School Settlement.
Peter has always supported pro bono work. In October, 2007, Peter acted for the mother of the late Savanah Hall in an Inquest into the death of a child in foster care in Prince George which led to 26 recommendations, including 17 directed to the Ministry of Children and Family Development. The First Nations Summit and the UBCIC have called for the implementation of those recommendations.
Education
LLB, UBC, 1975
BA [English and Film Production], 1971
Publications, Papers, Presentations
On Residential Schools:
- The Depth of the Ocean: General and Aggravated Damages for Childhood Sexual Abuse in Residential Schools (Paper presented at 3rd Annual National Summit on Institutional Liability for Sexual Assault and Abuse, Toronto, Ontario, February, 2002)
- Residential Schools Resolution: The Plaintiffs' Perspective on Litigation (Paper presented at the Canadian Bar Association conference, Winnipeg, Manitoba, April, 2000)
- Prosecuting Residential School Claims (Paper presented at the mid-winter Canadian Bar Association conference, Saskatchewan, 1999)
On Assistance to Aboriginal Governments:
- Governing Lands and Waters: Limits to Reserve Title and Indian Act Powers in British Columbia and Proposals for Reform (co-authored with David Schulze, (2001) 35 UBC Law review 415)
- Reservations on Reserves: The Shrinking Ambit of Reserve Title and Indian Act Powers and the New Possibilities of s. 35 Rights (Paper presented to the Canadian Bar Association, Aboriginal Law Section Spring meeting, April 24, 1997)
- The Recognition of Traditional Law in Child Custody Applications: Wilson v. Wilson , case comment [1991] 4 C.N.L.R. 1
On Treaty Negotiations:
- Should S. 91(24) Lands Remain in in Place in post-Treaty British Columbia? (co-authored with
Lee Caffrey, presented to the Pacific Business and Law Institute Conference, Ottawa, 2004)
download Paper [PDF] - Good Faith Negotiations: Luuxhon and the Future of the British Columbia Treaty Process, [unpublished] May 1999
On Aboriginal Title:
- The Supreme Court of Canada’s Decision in Marshall and Bernard: Its Implications for Aboriginal Title in British Columbia, co-authored with Michael Ross, 2005
Download Paper [PDF] - Oral History in Delgamuukw, Presentation to the Delgamuukw Conference, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, January 1998
- The Delgamuukw Decision and Oral Histories, Paper presented to the Prairie Treaty Gathering, Saskatchewan, August 5 and 6, 1998
- Recognition of Traditional Laws in State Courts and the Formulation of State Legislation, in Indigenous Law and the State, Morse & Goodman eds., Foris Publications, 1998, p. 259
- Delgamuukw et al v. The Queen, case comment on British Columbia Supreme Court decision, March 8, 1991 [unpublished]
- The Gitksan-Wet’suwet’en Land Claims: Pushing the Boundaries of the Recognition of the Content of Aboriginal Jurisdiction, in Law and Anthropology, Vol 5, 1981, p. 121
- The Reconciliation Between Aboriginal Title and Treaty Rights in the Forests of British Columbia, Canadian Bar Association Annual Meeting, 1995