Colleen focuses on Aboriginal law and employment, labour and human rights. She has practised in these areas for more than 20 years.
Colleen is called to the bar in Alberta and the North West Territories. However, as some of her clients are deemed federal employers, she practises all across Canada. She has appeared numerous times on behalf of clients before the following courts and tribunals: The Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench and Alberta Court of Appeal, The Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories, The Federal Court and Federal Court of Appeal, Canada Labour Code Adjudications, Federal and Provincial Privacy Tribunals, The Alberta Human Rights Tribunal and The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal.
Her areas of expertise include: employment agreements, non-competition agreements, injunction applications, Canada Labour Code adjudications, personnel policies, drug and alcohol policies, sexual harassment policies, election codes, membership codes, wrongful dismissal actions, human rights complaints, election disputes, general commercial litigation, privacy policies, judicial reviews, demand letters, trespass by-laws, banishment by-laws, by-laws, negotiations and business immigration. Additionally, Colleen has extensive experience in forensic litigation, workplace harassment investigations and TLE negotiations on behalf of First Nations.
Colleen was appointed Queen’s Counsel in the Province of Alberta in 2020.
Colleen is counsel to numerous First Nations and their entitles in Alberta, BC and the NWT. and is also counsel to the Confederacy of Treaty No. 6 First Nations in Alberta. She provides these clients with advice on aboriginal governance and consultation matters, employment matters, human rights matters and forensics.
- Chair (“North”), Canadian Bar Association Labour Law Section (four years)
- Board of Directors, YMCA (past)
- Childcare Committee Member, Glenora Club
- Board of Directors, Workshop West (past)
- “How First Nations Can avoid housing fraud!!” Presented both at the National AFOA Conference and for the AFOA BC Chapter
- “How to avoid an unjust dismissal complaint under the Canada Labour Code”
- “Why it is important to have a current Personnel Policy, Employment Contracts and a Human Rights Policy”
- “The Ins and Outs of Employment Contracts and Independent Contractor Agreements”
- “How to avoid litigation?”
- “Why is it important to have an updated Election Code and what should be in it?”
- A leading practitioner, Indigenous, Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory
- Appointed Queen’s Counsel (Alberta, 2020)