Thomas Isaac is a partner in our Business Law Group and leads our National Aboriginal Law Group. Mr. Isaac is a nationally recognized authority in the area of aboriginal law. He advises clients across Canada on aboriginal legal matters, and environmental assessment, regulatory, negotiations, and constitutional issues affecting major projects.

Mr. Isaac has extensive national experience advising mining, energy, oil, gas, pipeline and forestry companies, lenders and investors, and federal, provincial, territorial and municipal governments and agencies on aboriginal and related project matters. Mr. Isaac regularly negotiates on behalf of industry and governments respect impact, benefit and access agreements with aboriginal groups and advises on aboriginal consultation and accommodation processes and agreements.

Mr. Isaac has represented industry and government clients before the Supreme Court of Canada, the Ontario Court of Appeal, the British Columbia Court of Appeal, the British Columbia Supreme Court, the Ontario Energy Board, the Northwest Territories Supreme Court, Yukon Supreme Court and the British Columbia Environmental Appeal Board. Mr. Isaac's published works on aboriginal law have been cited with approval by Canadian courts, including the Supreme Court of Canada and the Federal Court of Appeal.

He is a former Chief Treaty Negotiator for the Government of British Columbia and prior to that he was an Assistant Deputy Minister responsible for establishing Nunavut for the Government of the Northwest Territories. Mr. Isaac also served in a senior capacity with the Government of Saskatchewan dealing with aboriginal issues.

Mr. Isaac's experience includes:

· negotiating on behalf of industry and government in negotiations with aboriginal groups respecting impact and benefit, economic development, access, replacement tenures and other agreements;

· negotiating, and advising in respect of, treaties and comprehensive land claims agreements across Canada;

· advising industry and governments on Canadian, provincial and territorial environmental assessment, National Energy Board, Ontario Energy Board and other regulatory processes involving aboriginal issues;

· extensive experience working on major transportation, infrastructure, energy and mining project, including negotiating agreements with first nations, representing proponents in dealing with governments, and advising on environmental assessments and other regulatory processes;

· advising financial institutions and investors on security, mortgage, tax and loan agreement issues involving Indian reserve and other First Nations lands; and

· negotiating and advising on the federal Indian Act and easements, rights of way and surrender/designation issues on Indian reserve lands in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario.

Mr. Isaac has published extensively in the areas of aboriginal and constitutional law. He is the author of ten books including Aboriginal Law; Commentary, Cases and Materials, (3 editions), used in law schools and universities in Canada and the United States, Treaty Rights in the Historic Treaties of Canada, and Aboriginal and Treaty Rights in the Maritimes: The Marshall Decision and Beyond and his recently published Aboriginal Law: Commentary and Analysis. He has been a contributing editor to the Canadian Native Law Reporter since 1992 and has taught aboriginal, constitutional and business law at a number of universities in Canada.

Mr. Isaac holds a BA in Political Science from St. Thomas University, an MA in Political Science from Dalhousie University, an LLB from the University of New Brunswick and an LLM from the University of Saskatchewan.

Mr. Isaac is recognized in the 2013 edition of The Best Lawyers in Canada in the area of aboriginal law and in the 2013 Chambers Global: The World's Leading Lawyers for Business in the area of aboriginal law. He also appears 2012 edition of Benchmark Canada, The Definitive Guide to Canada's Leading Litigation Firms & Attorneys, as a local litigation leader in the areas of aboriginal law, energy law and environmental law as well as in the 2012 Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory, a guide to the leading law firms and practitioners in Canada, as a leading practitioner in aboriginal law. Mr. Isaac is a member of the Law Societies of Alberta, British Columbia, Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Yukon.

 (Also at Vancouver, British Columbia Office)