Our services

PST has a long history of successful litigation on behalf of Indigenous governments – at all levels of the courts and through all stages of trial and appeal, up to and including arguing cases before the Supreme Court of Canada. We’ve been counsel for parties or intervenors in nearly every major Indigenous rights case to reach the Supreme Court since the early 1980s. We also represent our clients at regulatory tribunals, as well as judicial reviews of public governments.

We can help your Nation advance specific claims arising from the Crown’s past actions – or failures to act – regarding treaty rights and other obligations. And we’ll support you through the full array of treaty resolution processes, including negotiations, specific claims and arbitration that incorporates traditional Indigenous approaches to dispute resolution.

We don’t just promise to fight for your rights. We have a solid track record of winning.

• Our lawyers have appeared before the Supreme Court on more than 30 occasions. We’ve served as lead counsel in Taku River Tlingit First Nation v British Columbia, a foundational case that established the duty to consult and accommodate as a feature of the law in Canada; in Beckman v Little Salmon/Carmacks First Nation, a landmark case on the principles of modern treaty interpretation; and in R v Powley, the first case to recognize a Métis right to harvest under section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982 – to cite just a few examples.
• We’ve also appeared on behalf of intervenors at the Supreme Court many times, in cases such as Guerin, Sparrow, Delgamuukw, Van der Peet, Gladstone, Haida Nation, Daniels, Manitoba Métis Federation, Keewatin (Grassy Narrows), Behn, Chippewas of the Thames, Dickson, First Nation Child and Family Services Act, and many others.
• Tłı̨chǫ v Canada, 2015:  Obtained an injunction – the only one of its kind to date – to prevent federal legislation from coming into force that would have fundamentally changed the co-management of lands, waters and resources established under the Tłı̨chǫ Agreement.

  For a detailed review and analysis, read the PST case summary

• First Nation of Na-Cho Nyäk Dun v Yukon, 2023 (affirmed on appeal, 2024):  This successful judicial review overturned a decision to authorize mineral exploration in a pristine portion of FNND’s traditional territory. The case broke new ground by holding that the government had breached the honour of the Crown by not fulfilling its duty to act in accordance with the intended purpose of the treaty.

  For a detailed review and analysis, read the PST case summary

• Chippewas of Saugeen First Nation v South Bruce Peninsula (Town), 2023 (affirmed on appeal, 2024, leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada denied, 2025):  At trial and on appeal, won recognition of Saugeen’s ownership of Sauble Beach, a stretch of Lake Huron shoreline that attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors annually. This landmark decision is the first case in Canada in which a First Nation has won back wrongfully taken reserve lands from third-party individuals and a municipality.

  For a detailed review and analysis, read the PST case summary

• Whitehorse Emergency Shelter Inquest, 2024:  We represented a Yukon First Nation at a coroner’s inquest into the deaths of four Indigenous women, arguing successfully for the finding that significant transformative change was required at the shelter.

We understand that your territory is your future; protecting its lands, waters, animals and fish is one of your highest priorities. Only your government and your people can decide what is in the best interests of your territory – today and for generations to come. PST brings decades of experience and specialized expertise to helping you assert your stewardship rights and then implement your jurisdiction over your lands. We ensure that any project planned for your territory is sustainable and will proceed only if it’s aligned with your Nation’s vision for the future.

We’ve helped our clients achieve breakthrough victories and first-of-their-kind agreements to protect their territories and assert their rights. We’ve worked alongside them to develop co-management regimes and reach milestone agreements with regulators on the conduct of environmental reviews. Our team has helped negotiate environmental protection and planning protocols with governments. We’ve secured free, prior and informed consent on some of the largest energy and mining projects in Canada, including several nuclear facilities and the largest gold mine in Ontario. And the agreements we’ve negotiated with companies have set new standards for environmental protection and shared decision-making.

Here are some of the ways PST can support you in protecting your territory:

• Ensure that your rights with respect to critical issues, including your right to consent, are respected through all stages of decision-making, planning and development.
• Negotiate strong, long-term environmental protection agreements with industry and governments.
• Help build and implement Indigenous-led environmental assessments.
• Support the development and implementation of land use plans and protocols.
• Shape environmental impact assessment and regulatory reviews that meet the needs of your community.
• Provide strong advocacy in assessments and regulatory processes while ensuring that your community’s experts and knowledge holders are effective participants.

PST has a decades-long record of success in helping Nations achieve groundbreaking economic deals. We’ve supported our clients in forging agreements across a wide range of sectors, from mining and forestry to energy generation and transmission – including hydroelectric, nuclear, solar and wind. We understand the complexities of these agreements and help ensure that projects go ahead only if they make sense for your people and contribute meaningfully to your long-term prosperity.

Your Nation shouldn’t simply be paid to get out of the way. You rightly expect any economic development involving your territory to be a true partnership, giving you ownership and control over a project that will shape your future. We work with your team to determine what kind of structure will work best. It could be an impact and benefit agreement, equity participation, joint partnership, full ownership or a broader Indigenous-led development – we find the best options together. And to realize your ambitions, we not only help negotiate the deal but provide the support and advice you need to secure financing and/or loan guarantees – backed by proven, Indigenous-focused corporate and tax law advice.

Equally important, we help you build the capacity to participate fully in a project throughout its lifecycle, from initial development through eventual clean-up and reclamation. We understand that you want to be directly involved in any development affecting your people’s future, ensuring that it’s responsibly implemented and sustainably managed, so it advances long-term social and economic well-being.

• We’ve helped negotiate some of the highest-profile Indigenous energy deals in Canada. For example, our client’s landmark hydroelectric project in Northern Ontario set the precedent for genuine partnerships in which First Nations receive a fair share of every dollar earned – forever. It was also the first such agreement to include a loan guarantee, ensuring that the Nation will benefit from the project’s long-term profitability.
• The mining deals we’ve helped forge across Canada include one of the richest gold mines in the country. In addition to a share of the revenue from every ounce of gold extracted, the First Nation secured equity in the company, along with its commitment to help improve community infrastructure. Our client also has an ongoing role, supported by additional funding, in operating the mine.
• Our team has helped create initiatives focused entirely on improving community infrastructure and access. We helped a northern Nation build the community’s first all-season road, crafting an agreement that considered the project’s social impact, respected existing land use and enabled the Nation to partner with a large construction company. We also developed a new a revenue model that will see the community earn income from the road for many decades.
• Sometimes we find opportunities to work on local initiatives with global impacts. A case in point is the historic equity partnership we helped forge between a large electricity provider and a First Nation in Ontario to produce and market cancer-fighting medical isotopes. Thanks to an alignment of economic interests and shared values, this unique business is building community prosperity while benefiting people all over the world.

PST provides legal support to Indigenous governments engaging with other governments and their agencies at the federal, provincial, territorial and municipal levels. We have the experience and expertise to help negotiate complex tax agreements, fiscal transfers, revenue sharing agreements and joint governance responsibility for programs and services. We help ensure you get the fiscal support you need to protect your lands and run your government.

We can help your Nation pursue treaty land entitlement claims and negotiate rights recognition agreements. We’ll support you in collaborating with other governments on land use planning – and in seeing that public governments live up to their responsibilities. We also develop strategies and mechanisms for collaborative law and policy making.

In short, we know how to work with the Government of Canada and with provincial, territorial and municipal governments to get things done.

• We’ve collaborated with clients across the country on creating trust structures to manage wealth generated from modern treaties and agreements with industry. We help ensure that the money Nations receive today will bring lasting benefits for future generations.
• We’ve led negotiations with Canada on behalf of Nations in British Columbia and the North to fundamentally change the funding models for modern treaties. This has yielded tens of millions of dollars annually for our clients.
• We’ve negotiated rights recognition and treaty land entitlement agreements that have led to long-overdue acknowledgement of Nations’ inherent jurisdictions, as well as significant increases in their reserve size.
• Agreements that we’ve helped negotiate have enabled our clients to secure billions of dollars in funding, transforming their communities and the lives of community members. Self-determination and self-government only become possible when aspirations are matched by material resources – and we know how to make that happen.

PST has long been at the forefront in helping Nations negotiate modern treaties and then advising on the legal aspects of implementing them. We have deep expertise in the development of Indigenous constitutions and laws, including laws and policies for housing, land management and protection, heritage, and community safety and wellness. We can provide guidance on building new government structures within your community, along with ongoing support for self-governance. We can also build a solid legal foundation for your community housing and infrastructure projects. And our team includes experts in the law governing all aspects of economic well-being, including employment, taxation and the management of trusts. We know how to craft the legal tools to assert your jurisdiction over your lands and your resources.

We don’t believe there’s another law firm in Canada with comparable depth of experience in negotiating treaties and self-government. After more than 45 years, we bring an unrivalled wealth of learning and experience to building agreements that are truly groundbreaking – and that stand the test of time.

We also know that the work is not over when the agreement is signed. In fact, that’s typically when the hard work begins. Through tackling the hands-on challenges of implementation, we’ve developed legal tools and strategies to help you ensure your treaty partners are held accountable to both the letter and the spirit of the agreement.

• PST served as legal counsel to several First Nations in Yukon during the negotiation of the Umbrella Final Agreement of 1993, which provided the foundation for 11 modern treaties subsequently ratified in the territory.
• We supported the First Nation of Na-Cho Nyäk Dun and Little Salmon/Carmacks First Nation, among other Nations in Yukon, through their negotiation of final agreements and self-government agreements.
• Our team collaborated with the Tłı̨chǫ Government in negotiating the Tłı̨chǫ Land Claims and Self-Government Agreement. This enabled the Tłı̨chǫ people to achieve self-government protected by section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982 – only the second such agreement in history to that point – affirming ownership and jurisdiction across a large area of the Northwest Territories.
• We’re currently acting as legal counsel for a Yukon First Nation negotiating a first-in-Canada transboundary agreement that will secure rights and self-government for the portion of its territory that falls outside Yukon (where the Nation already has a final agreement).