Skip to content
Emma Hume | Ratcliff LLP

Emma Hume

Associate
604-983-7633

Legal Assistant & Paralegal:
Raquel M. Handel

Education

  • J.D. (concentration in environmental law and sustainability) – University of Victoria, 2012
  • B.A. (Honours), Geography – University of British Columbia, 2008

Year Of Call

  • British Columbia, 2013

Interview on CBC As It Happens about BC Court of Appeal decision on private medical records, April 2023 (at 47:30)

Emma advises First Nations working to advance and protect Aboriginal rights and title, with a focus on lands and resources. She advises Indigenous communities grappling with the effects of historic, present and proposed resource extraction across BC, including major interprovincial oil pipelines, hydroelectric dams, mines, and natural gas extraction, pipeline transport and LNG export.

Emma represents First Nations in engagement with governments and proponents, and when necessary, in litigation. Through this work she has gained experience with federal, provincial and Indigenous led regulatory processes (including the first legally binding Indigenous-led environmental assessment in Canada), proponent and Crown negotiations, agreement implementation, and complex litigation. She has appeared before BC Supreme Court and Court of Appeal, the Federal Court of Appeal, the Specific Claims Tribunal and various regulatory bodies.

It has been her privilege to work collaboratively with Indigenous communities across BC. Some of her specific experience is listed under “Notable Experience”.

Outside of practice, Emma most enjoys time in wild places with loved ones.

  • Implementing Yahey and Blueberry River First Nation v. British Columbia, 2021 BCSC 1287. This decision, and the resulting BRFN-BC Implementation Agreement , provides vital protection for the Nation’s treaty rights, which were violated by decades of natural gas extraction and logging authorized by the Province. Blueberry and the BC agreed to work together to restore the balance between development and protection of their treaty rights, as well as the land, wildlife and environment, including through new approaches to consultation and land use planning to implement substantive protections.

 

  • Saik’uz and Stellat’en First Nations (Thomas) v. Rio Tinto Alcan Inc et al 2022 BCSC 15;  2024 BCCA 62 – An Aboriginal rights and title claim in the BC Supreme Court seeking to restore flows and fisheries in the Nechako River that was dammed by Rio Tinto Alcan in the 1950s. Saik’uz and Stellat’en secured a declaration against the federal and provincial crowns, including that they have a fiduciary duty to protect the Nations’ established rights to salmon and sturgeon fisheries harmed by the damming and diversion of the Nechako River.

 

  • Huu-ay-aht v. HMTQ, 2020 SCTC 4 – A forestry company used a reserve road to haul significant volumes of timber, with limited economic benefit to the Nation. The Specific Claims Tribunal found that Canada breached its fiduciary duty in leasing a road right of way through a reserve that provided strategic access to a large volume of timber, with compensation ordered.

 

  • Tsleil-Waututh Nation v. Canada (AG), 2018 FCA 153 – Canada breached its duty to consult Coldwater Indian Band before approving the Trans Mountain Expansion Project. The Crown did not adequately consult and accommodate impacts on the community’s drinking water. Also see: Coldwater Indian Band v. Canada (AG), 2020 FCA 34. Following these decisions the pipeline was routed to avoid risks to the community’s drinking water supply.

 

  • Huu-ay-aht v. HMTQ, 2014 SCTC 7 and 2016 SCTC 14 – Canada breached its fiduciary duty in setting the conditions for the sale and management of on-reserve timber. This was one of the first Specific Claims Tribunal decisions to bring historical compensation forward to present day value. Compensation totaled over $15 million.

Emma advises First Nations working to advance and protect Aboriginal rights and title, with a focus on lands and resources. She advises Indigenous communities grappling with the effects of historic, present and proposed resource extraction across BC, including major interprovincial oil pipelines, hydroelectric dams, mines, and natural gas extraction, pipeline transport and LNG export.

Emma represents First Nations in engagement with governments and proponents, and when necessary, in litigation. Through this work she has gained experience with federal, provincial and Indigenous led regulatory processes (including the first legally binding Indigenous-led environmental assessment in Canada), proponent and Crown negotiations, agreement implementation, and complex litigation. She has appeared before BC Supreme Court and Court of Appeal, the Federal Court of Appeal, the Specific Claims Tribunal and various regulatory bodies.

It has been her privilege to work collaboratively with Indigenous communities across BC. Some of her specific experience is listed under “Notable Experience”.

Outside of practice, Emma most enjoys time in wild places with loved ones.

  • Implementing Yahey and Blueberry River First Nation v. British Columbia, 2021 BCSC 1287. This decision, and the resulting BRFN-BC Implementation Agreement , provides vital protection for the Nation’s treaty rights, which were violated by decades of natural gas extraction and logging authorized by the Province. Blueberry and the BC agreed to work together to restore the balance between development and protection of their treaty rights, as well as the land, wildlife and environment, including through new approaches to consultation and land use planning to implement substantive protections.

 

  • Saik’uz and Stellat’en First Nations (Thomas) v. Rio Tinto Alcan Inc et al 2022 BCSC 15;  2024 BCCA 62 – An Aboriginal rights and title claim in the BC Supreme Court seeking to restore flows and fisheries in the Nechako River that was dammed by Rio Tinto Alcan in the 1950s. Saik’uz and Stellat’en secured a declaration against the federal and provincial crowns, including that they have a fiduciary duty to protect the Nations’ established rights to salmon and sturgeon fisheries harmed by the damming and diversion of the Nechako River.

 

  • Huu-ay-aht v. HMTQ, 2020 SCTC 4 – A forestry company used a reserve road to haul significant volumes of timber, with limited economic benefit to the Nation. The Specific Claims Tribunal found that Canada breached its fiduciary duty in leasing a road right of way through a reserve that provided strategic access to a large volume of timber, with compensation ordered.

 

  • Tsleil-Waututh Nation v. Canada (AG), 2018 FCA 153 – Canada breached its duty to consult Coldwater Indian Band before approving the Trans Mountain Expansion Project. The Crown did not adequately consult and accommodate impacts on the community’s drinking water. Also see: Coldwater Indian Band v. Canada (AG), 2020 FCA 34. Following these decisions the pipeline was routed to avoid risks to the community’s drinking water supply.

 

  • Huu-ay-aht v. HMTQ, 2014 SCTC 7 and 2016 SCTC 14 – Canada breached its fiduciary duty in setting the conditions for the sale and management of on-reserve timber. This was one of the first Specific Claims Tribunal decisions to bring historical compensation forward to present day value. Compensation totaled over $15 million.

Year Of Call

  • British Columbia, 2013

Education

  • J.D. (concentration in environmental law and sustainability) – University of Victoria, 2012
  • B.A. (Honours), Geography – University of British Columbia, 2008