Water Law: Collaborative Solutions within Multiple Legal Orders 2025
Course Date: October 3, 2025
Total: 5h 25min
Total Ethics: 1h
Course Date: October 3, 2025
Course Introduction and Land Acknowledgement (9:00 – 9:10)
Teresa Sheward — Program Lawyer, CLEBC, Vancouver
Oliver M. Brandes — Co-Director, Associate Director of Strategic Partnerships and Public Policy, POLIS Project; Centre for Global Studies, UVic, Victoria
Deborah L. Curran — Professor, Faculty of Law and School of Environmental Studies, Executive Director, Environmental Law Centre, UVic, Victoria
Indigenous Water Relationships (9:10 – 10:20)
- Gitanyow Hereditary Chiefs Aks Ayookxw Water Policy
Tara Marsden/Naxginkw — Wilp Sustainability Director, Gitanyow Hereditary Chiefs; Principal, Hlimoo Sustainability Solutions, Kitwanga
- Implications of claim to submerged lands in Cowichan Tribes v. Canada (Attorney General)
Julian Riddell — Woodward & Company Lawyers LLP, Victoria
BREAK (10:20 – 10:30)
Addressing Water Harms (10:30 – 12:00)
- Thomas and Saik'uz First Nation v. Rio Tinto Alcan—tort claims grounded in the Aboriginal right to fish, and Crown responsibility
Melinda J. Skeels — Ratcliff LLP, North Vancouver
- Esk'etemc Specific Claim
Stanley H. Ashcroft — Ashcroft & Company, West Vancouver
Watersheds as Health Systems (12:00 – 12:30)
Dr. Shannon Waters — Deputy Provincial Health Officer, Planetary and Water Health, Office of the Provincial Health Officer, Victoria
LUNCH (12:30 – 1:15)
Water Allocation (1:15 – 3:00)
- FITFIR, water scarcity, and water sustainability plans
- groundwater
- water quality and objectives
- Indigenous interests and rights
- watershed-specific innovation
Oliver M. Brandes — Co-Director, Associate Director of Strategic Partnerships and
Public Policy, POLIS Project; Centre for Global Studies, UVic, Victoria
Deborah L. Curran — Professor, Faculty of Law and School of Environmental Studies, Executive Director, Environmental Law Centre, UVic, Victoria
Clayton Leonard — JFK Law LLP, Victoria
Rosalie C.N. Yazzie — Nesika Law Corporation, Westbank
BREAK (3:00 – 3:15)
Daylighting Legal Issues Roundtable (3:15 – 4:00)
- legal scope of water
- wildfire
- beneficial use
- changing water licenses (allocation)
Oliver M. Brandes — Co-Director, Associate Director of Strategic Partnerships and Public Policy, POLIS Project; Centre for Global Studies, UVic, Victoria
Deborah L. Curran — Professor, Faculty of Law and School of Environmental Studies, Executive Director, Environmental Law Centre, UVic, Victoria
Clayton Leonard — JFK Law LLP, Victoria
Julian Riddell — Woodward & Company Lawyers LLP, Victoria
Dr. Shannon Waters — Deputy Provincial Health Officer, Planetary and Water Health, Office of the Provincial Health Officer, Victoria
Rosalie C.N. Yazzie — Nesika Law Corporation, Westbank
Closing Comments (4:00 – 4:05)
Oliver M. Brandes — Co-Director, Associate Director of Strategic Partnerships and Public Policy, POLIS Project; Centre for Global Studies, UVic, Victoria
Deborah L. Curran — Professor, Faculty of Law and School of Environmental Studies, Executive Director, Environmental Law Centre, UVic, Victoria
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