Peggy Blair

Peggy J. Blair is the past Director of Legal Services and Senior Legal Counsel for the Canadian Medical Association. She has been a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada since 1990 and is a past member of the Law Society of Alberta (1982-1999).

In 1993, Blair was the lead counsel in R. v. Jones and Nadjiwon, the first Canadian case to recognize Aboriginal and treaty rights to fish commercially in priority to other users. As a result of the backlash which followed, which included Aboriginal boats being set on fire, protest marches and a stabbing/swarming incident in Owen Sound, she attended Harvard University to train in Negotiation Skills (1993). A widely acclaimed expert in Aboriginal cross-cultural negotiations, [http://www.cbc.ca/insite/AS_IT_HAPPENS_TORONTO/1999/10/5.html] Peggy was then involved in multi-party negotiations to resolve the volatile issues around the fisheries, which ultimately resulted in a precedent-setting and comprehensive co-management agreement between the First Nations, federal and provincial governments, involving all aspects of Great Lakes fisheries management (2001). [ "Ontario Band Opts for Talks over Tiff" http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/1999/11/05/on_native991105.html ]

Blair worked for the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples as a policy adviser on land claims and dispute resolution issues. [ http://www.iigr.ca/pdf/documents/1223_Report_of_the_Royal_Com.pdf; http://www.ainc-inac.gc.ca/ch/rcap/sg/cka5di_e.pdf] She was appointed as a part-time member with the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal where she conducted hearings across Canada into allegations of discrimination (1993-1999) [ eg. Singh v. Statistics Canada, http://www.chrt-tcdp.gc.ca/search/view_html.asp?doid=256&lg=_e&isruling=0 - 221k - ] and she was the Chief Federal Negotiator in self-government negotiations involving 27 communities in northern Ontario (1997-1998).

In 2003, Blair was selected by a multi-stakeholder panel as a Senior Adjudicator for the Indian Residential Schools claims dispute resolution (DR) process, hearing claims of serious sexual and physical abuse across Canada. [http://www.irsad-sapi.gc.ca/english/pdf/Biographies_EN.pdf ]

Blair has a Masters in law (1998) and a doctorate in law (2003), both from the University of Ottawa. She was the first anglophone to be awarded the Prix d’excellence by the Association des professeurs de droit du Québec. She has published widely on Aboriginal issues concerning resource use and governance, [ eg. “Solemn Promises and Solum Rights: The Saugeen Ojibway Fishing Grounds and R. v. Jones and Nadjiwon” (1996–1997) 28 Ottawa Law Review 125–143: Beyond Corbiere: In Search of Legitimacy, with Brad Morse and Associates, http://www.ainc-inac.gc.ca/ps/lts/fng/prev/pdf/beyC1.pdf ] ; on the rights of Aboriginal women [ "Rights of Aboriginal Women On and Off Reserve" http://www.scowinstitute.ca/documents/RightsofWomenFacts.pdf] and on Aboriginal culture [ "Non-Protection of Aboriginal Heritage" Scow Foundation, http://www.scowinstitute.ca/documents/HeritageSitesFacts.pdf] . Her book, Lament for a First Nation, is highly critical of the Howard decision of the Supreme Court of Canada which removed the rights to hunt and fish of the seven Williams Treaties First Nations in Southern Ontario. It was published in May, 2008 by the University of Washington and UBC Press.Dr. Blair has been widely cited by well known Canadian scholars such as John Borrow, Douglas Harris, Kent MacNeil, and Mark Walters as well as others for her academic analysis of Aboriginal hunting and fishing issues. [ See eg., Kent MacNeil,"Defining Aboriginal Title in the 90s" www.yorku.ca/robarts/projects/lectures/pdf/rl_mcneil.pdf ; John Borrows, "Living Between Water and Rocks: First Nations, Environmental Planning and Democracy" vol. 48 University of Toronto Law Journal,1997]

In 2004, Dr. Blair was appointed as a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for International Sustainable Development Law at McGill University, Montreal and was reappointed in 2007. [ [http://www.cisdl.org/people/blair.html CISDL ] ] She has been regularly named by Lexpert as one of Canada’s leading lawyers in her field since 1996. [http://www.lexpert.ca/directory/firm.php?id=55]

In December 2004, Dr. Blair travelled to Ukraine as an election observer during the presidential elections as part of the Canada Corps. [ Final Report of Canadian Observers' Mission to Ukraine, http://www.acdi-cida.gc.ca/CIDAWEB/acdicida.nsf/En/STE-32015518-SGG] She has been a Deputy Chief Adjudicator in the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement hearing process since October, 2007, and is currently listed in Canada's Who's Who as well as Lexpert.

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