Clayton Leonard

Representative Work

• Advisor to a number of First Nations on water and wastewater infrastructure including water supply agreements, licensing and regulatory issues, and participation in regional water systems.
• Counsel to the Chiefs Water Committee of the Assembly of Treaty Chiefs (Alberta) on the first federal legislation First Nation drinking water.

• Successfully negotiated a number of impact benefit agreements resulting in substantial community benefits and economic development opportunities for First Nations in the resource sector.
• Has briefed the Assembly of Treaty Chiefs (Alberta) a number of times on current consultation, water and Treaty rights issues.
• Counsel to First Nations in Alberta on the development and review of the Government of Alberta's First Nations Consultation Policy.

• Counsel to a First Nation on the creation of a new service rig company, one of the first to be wholly owned and operated by one First Nation, resulting from a collaboration between a major oilsands producer and the First Nation.

Papers & Presentations

• "Aboriginal Consultation and Emerging Water Issues", 3rd Annual Western Aboriginal Consultation for Industry (Canadian Institute, 2010). 
• “Water Rights and Water Stewardship: What About Aboriginal Peoples?” by David K. Laidlaw and Monique Passelac-Ross, Canadian Institute of Resource Law, 2010-#107 (Reviewer). 
• "Watered Down: Issues Surrounding Water Use, Legislation and Policy in Southern Alberta", G. Rangi Jeerakathil and Clayton Leonard, in Environmental Law: The Year in Review 2007, ed. S. Berger and D. Saxe (Canada Law Book: Aurora, 2008). 
• “Treaty Water Rights, the Duty to Consult and Accommodate, and Alberta’s Water Management Planning Process”, Alberta First Nations Technical Advisory Group (2007). 
• “Neither Fish nor Indians: Pursuing Crown-Métis Relations through Historical Evidence Concerning Policies and the Constitution Act, 1930”, by Dr. F. Tough in Crown-Métis Relations: Section 91(24) of the Constitution Act, 1867 (Law Commission of Canada and Métis National Council: 2007) (Researcher). 
• “As Long as the Sun Shines and the Water Flows…: the ‘Made in Alberta’ Consultation Policy and Treaty Water Rights”, Assembly of Treaty Chiefs – Alberta (2006). 
• “The Duty to Consult and Historical Research”, Faculty of Native Studies, University of Alberta (2006). 
• “South Saskatchewan River Basin Water Management Plan”, Treaty 7 Chiefs’ Association (2006). 
• “What’s the Difference? Consulting with Treaty First Nations and the Métis”, Infonex Conference (2005). 
• “Alberta’s First Nations Consultation Policy”, Treaty 7 Chiefs’ Association (2005). 
• “Alberta’s Interim Métis Harvesting Agreements and Treaty 7”, Blackfoot Confederacy Annual Conference (2005). 
• “Importance of Freshwater Fish to the Métis of Western Canada”, by Dr. F. Tough for R. v. Laviolette, 2005 SKQB 61 (Contributor). 
• “A New Era in Métis Constitutional Rights: The Importance of Powley and Blais”, Catherine Bell and Clayton Leonard, (April 2004) Alberta Law Review (Vol. 41, No. 4).

Awards & Distinctions

• Harris Gillespie Field, Q.C. Prize in Environmental Law (2002) 
• Harold Lawrence Hawe Bursary (2000) 
• Johnny Sampson Prize in Native Studies (2000)