First Nations Renewable Energy Projects in Canada - Expert Counsel Critical to Success

Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press

The key to success of your renewable energy project on First Nations land or in partnership with First Nations is expert counsel.

Here is an excerpt from today's issue of the Canadian national daily newspaper, the Globe and Mail:

Aboriginal law expert Thomas Molloy moves to Miller Thomson

With tensions between native bands and resource companies showing few signs of going away, Miller Thomson LLP has hired one of Canada’s pre-eminent experts in aboriginal law.

The firm has added to its Saskatoon office Thomas Molloy, a lawyer with 40 years experience in native land claims, acting for the federal government in the 1999 creation of Nunavut.

He was instrumental in the landmark Nsiga’a treaty in British Columbia, and acts for the Ontario government in the land-claim controversy in Caledonia, Ont. He has also acted for resource companies and utilities in their dealings with first nations.

Mr. Molloy said he left his old firm, MacPherson Leslie and Tyerman LLP, for Miller Thomson because of the national platform his new firm offers.

Despite recent headlines about confrontations with mining firms over land rights in Ontario, he said progress is being made. It’s just more difficult to see, since crises, blockades and legal battles usually hog the attention.

“It’s easier to get a story when there’s a demonstration … going on,” Mr. Molloy said. “When progress is being made, not much is reported, because people are just working. It’s sort of business as usual.”