Ryan M. Lake

Ryan Lake is a partner at Maurice Law with extensive experience as an advocate and advisor. His practice is focused on litigation and negotiations related to Aboriginal and treaty rights, including the duty to consult and accommodate. He also has a longstanding commitment to providing professional legal services to the Indigenous peoples of Canada respecting their administrative responsibilities and the organization and development of commercial transactions. As a law student, Ryan interned at the Department of Justice (Canada) and with the Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel to the Senate in Ottawa. Ryan commenced his legal career with a firm recognized for its expertise in maritime, aviation, and transportation law, where he provided services to Canadian and international clients. Ryan continued to practice commercial, class action, and insurance litigation in Toronto until joining Maurice Law in 2014. He has appeared before the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta and Saskatchewan, the Federal Court of Canada, the Specific Claims Tribunal, federal and provincial human rights tribunals, and at various appellate levels. He has participated as counsel on complex dispositive and interlocutory motions, applications, trials and all manner of ADR proceedings. Ryan has authored several papers focused on the Duty to Consult, Crown fiduciary and treaty obligations, as well as the Specific Claims Process and associated ADR mechanisms. In 2017, Ryan graduated from Osgoode Hall with a Master of Laws focused on administrative law, civil litigation, and energy and infrastructure issues important to Indigenous governments across Canada. He is currently in his third term serving as an executive member of the CBA – Aboriginal Law Section, presently as Chair.

Community Engagement & Presentations

• Membership on the Urban Reserves Strategy Steering Committee (City of Edmonton), on behalf of the Confederacy of Treaty Six First Nations. • Canadian Bar Association, Alberta Branch, Aboriginal Law Section, Chair • Authored and tabled “Exploring Access to Justice through Canada’s Specific Claims Process”, Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs (INAN) 42nd Parliament, 1st Session • Authored and tabled “Balancing Traditional Legal Conceptions of Evidence: Oral History in Context”, Joint Panel of the Canadian Bar Association Administrative, Aboriginal and Environmental Law Sections • Co-Authored “Mutual Prosperity in the Resource/Mining Sector in Canada: Successful Agreements with Indigenous Nations”, Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada Convention • Co-presented on and tabled “Exploring Access to Justice through Canada’s Specific Claims Process” at the CBA Alberta Branch Aboriginal Law - South Section, April 26, 2019 • Appeared before and provided evidence to the House of Commons’ Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs in support of its study of Bill C-262 An Act to ensure that the laws of Canada are in harmony with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. • Co-presented “Update on Treaty Land Entitlement Litigation” at the Canadian Bar Association, Alberta Branch Aboriginal Law - South Section (2018) • Presentation to CBA National on Ensuring Respectful Interaction with Indigenous Clients through Cultural Competency. • Presentation to the Pacific Business & Law Institute, Valuing Specific Claims and Compensation, February 2023.