Mary was called to the Alberta Bar in 1996, and the British Columbia Bar in 2000. She has a Bachelor of Laws degree (now a Juris Doctor) from the University of Alberta and has lived and practiced in both Alberta and British Columbia.
For the past thirty years, Mary has practiced Indigenous law with the Department of Justice Canada. She has served as litigation counsel on a wide range of cases, including Aboriginal rights and title claims, claims for breach of fiduciary duty, and claims for breach of treaty rights.
Mary has experience at all levels of court, as well as the Specific Claims Tribunal. Most recently, she served as senior counsel on the Cowichan Tribes v. Canada (Attorney General) file, where she played a lead role in all aspects of the pre-trial and trial process.
Throughout her career, Mary has coordinated large teams on complex litigation files, shaped litigation strategies to meet the legal, policy, and financial interests of her client, and has played a key role in achieving multi-million dollar settlements on numerous files. Mary has also served as counsel on several high-profile public inquiries.
Mary loves soccer, knitting, and travelling in equal measure, and spends most of her leisure time on these activities. Mary is a proud and longstanding supporter of CBABC’s Warrior Project, which funds scholarships for Indigenous law students. She lives in Burnaby with her husband and two cats.
