16 LEXPERT
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2019
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WWW.LEXPERT.CA
Grenier, Pierre Dentons Canada LLP
(514) 878-8856 pierre.grenier@dentons.com
Mr. Grenier is a partner in Dentons' Litigation and Dispute Resolution group.
His practice focuses on corporate and commercial matters as well as on
the construction, energy and real estate sectors. He represents owners and
developers, general and specialized contractors, equipment manufacturers
and franchisors, financial institutions, industrial corporations and investors.
Greenfield, QC, Donald E. Bennett Jones LLP
(403) 298-3248 greenfieldd@bennettjones.com
Mr. Greenfield's energy practice spans asset and share sales and acquisitions
in Canada and abroad, LNG and oil and gas development and facilities finan-
cing, construction and operation. He also regularly advises non-Canadian
investors on matters relating to the Investment Canada Act. He is regularly
ranked among the best energy lawyers in Canada and internationally.
Green, Bram J. Goodmans LLP
(416) 597-4153 bgreen@goodmans.ca
Mr. Green's real estate practice extends to all aspects of domestic and
international utility-scale solar and wind power renewable energy generation
projects. He has acted for Recurrent Energy in its development of utility-scale
solar projects in Ontario.
Gormley, Daniel Goodmans LLP
(416) 597-4111 dgormley@goodmans.ca
Mr. Gormley leads Goodmans' Energy Group. He acts for owners and develop-
ers of clean/renewable energy projects (solar, wind, geothermal, district
energy) across Canada and internationally and owners of distribution and
transmission assets. His clients include Enwave, AMP Energy, SkyPower
Global, Forum Equity, several Ontario municipalities/utilities, and Ontario's
association of electricity distributors.
Gorman, William (Bill) Goodmans LLP
(416) 597-4118 bgorman@goodmans.ca
Mr. Gorman's practice focuses on domestic and cross-border corporate
finance and M&A. He represents public companies and underwriters in the
energy sector in a range of transactions including initial public offerings,
debt and equity financings and mergers & acquisitions.
Gilmour, Bradley S. Bennett Jones LLP
(403) 298-3382 gilmourb@bennettjones.com
Mr. Gilmour's practice focuses on environmental, regulatory, energy and
Aboriginal law. He advises on due diligence, environmental approvals, release
and incident reporting, contaminated sites and environmental investigations
and prosecutions on a range of energy, chemical, petrochemical, hydro,
bio-fuel, wind and other industry types.
LEXPERT-RANKED LAWYERS
"ere's oen lots of heartburn around the duty
to consult and the regulatory regime in Canada
not providing certainty," Seaman says from his
Vancouver office. "When you have the Indigenous
community as part of the commercial enterprise,
they are a de facto project proponent. ey're part
owners. It doesn't make sense to be consulting
with yourself, if I could put it that way."
at said, he points out that participation still
depends on the community and the type of project.
"ere are storage terminals, electrical trans-
mission lines and alternative energy projects.
en there are pipelines that carry a substance
like heavy crude, which tend to be more polar-
izing than a transmission line or a pipeline car-
rying gas."
But Seaman doesn't see the end-game for most
Native groups in Western Canada as full owner-
ship of new energy projects. "It could happen, but
what we're seeing is more of a consortium kind of
a model because one of the ways you manage risk
is to have more than one partner."
To own or to partner, it's a conundrum many
Native communities in Québec wish they had.
In most of the Maritimes and the Gaspé Penin-
sula in Québec, First Nations bands signed Peace
and Friendship Treaties which, unlike the historic
treaties in other parts of Canada, did not involve
surrendering title.
But Indigenous groups in swaths of Québec
and Ontario never signed any kind of treaty.
Many of them are poorly treated by energy devel-
opers, says James O'Reilly of O'Reilly & Associés
in Montréal.
"In many cases, they don't acknowledge it's
Indigenous land," says O'Reilly, who has special-
ized in Aboriginal law, with an emphasis on the
advancement and protection of Aboriginal rights,
for more than 40 years.
"ey say, 'We've got our permits, we've got our
authorizations from the Québec or federal gov-
ernment and we have to talk to you, but that's it.'
ey say, 'You don't have your rights proved. Go
prove your rights, take the governments to court.'"
e problem is many bands are small or poorly
organized or don't have the money for a long court
battle, he says.
"My view is that the companies like Hydro-
Québec, the biggest energy developer in Québec,
along with the major mining and forestry compa-
nies, typically do not recognize the true rights of
the Aboriginal peoples.
"In my view you can easily say they ride rough-
shod over the rights of the Innu, the Algonquin
and the Atikamekw Nations and the Mi'gmaq.
ey haven't been able to ride roughshod over the
Cree, the Cree have fought them back each time
