Joelle is an experienced litigator and the Practice Group Leader of MT+Co.’s Litigation + Dispute Resolution Group. Joelle practices in the areas of contractual transactional disputes, corporate governance, business torts, regulatory matters, and Aboriginal rights and title. Joelle has appeared as counsel at all levels of court in BC and the Federal Court of Appeal.
Joelle also has extensive experience before administrative bodies including acting
as counsel for the Law Society of British Columbia, and the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada, and appearing as counsel before the BC Securities Commission, the Canada Energy Regulator, the BC Utilities Commission, and the Environmental Appeal Board.
In her Indigenous Law practice, Joelle assists clients in the areas of Aboriginal rights and title, governance, Indian reserve issues, mutual benefit agreement interpretation and implementation, regulatory matters, and the development of strategic approaches to consultation and negotiation with the Crown and industry. Joelle has significant expe-rience in complex litigation involving the Crown with a focus on the advancement of reconciliation and the full implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as part of the Canadian legal landscape.
Joelle also acts for clients through alternative dispute resolution processes such as media-tion and arbitration and is often consulted for strategic and results-driven advice as part of ongoing negotiations. In addition to her work, Joelle is a steadfast advocate for women in law, consistently pushing for gender diversity in the workplace, and championing efforts for a more diverse, inclusive, and equitable legal profession.
Notable Work:
- Acting as lead counsel for nine Stó:lo Nation communities who successfully challenged the federal government’s approval of the Trans Mountain Expansion Pipeline before the Federal Court of Appeal in Tsleil-Waututh Nation et al v. Canada (Attorney General), 2018 FCA 153, the largest case of its kind ever before the Federal Court of Appeal, and again in the subsequent judicial review proceedings following the re-approval of the Trans Mountain Expansion Project in 2019 in Coldwater First Nation v. Canada (Attorney General), 2020 FCA 34;
- Member of the class counsel team representing the plaintiff class members in class action proceedings commenced in the Federal Court against the Federal government for the discriminatory treatment of First Nations youth in Xavier Moushoom et al v. The Attorney General of Canada and Assembly of First Nations and Zacheus Joseph Trout v. The Attorney General of Canada, 2023 FC 1466, resulting in the largest class action settlement in Canadian history; and
- Lead counsel for the First Nations Leadership Council comprised of the BC Assembly of First Nations, the Union of BC Indian Chiefs and First Nations Summit, in its intervention in Gitxaała v. British Columbia, 2023 BCSC 1680, proceedings commenced by Gitxaala Nation and Ehattesaht First Nation regarding the constitutionality of the Mineral Tenure Act and the implementation of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act.
Updated April 2024
