Dr. Peggy Blair,
LLB (University of Alberta),
LL.M/ LLD (University of Ottawa) 

Dr. Blair has been recognized as one of Canada’s leading lawyers by Lexpert and Silrun Surveys Ltd. in the field of Aboriginal law. Along with Aboriginal and resource issues, she has a particular interest in health law and policy. Her first book examined Supreme Court of Canada decisions dealing with title to Aboriginal waters. Her second book focuses on the effect of Canadian laws on indigenous healing and midwifery (forthcoming, 2005).  Dr. Blair completed Negotiation Skills training at Harvard Law School in 1993. She has taught Negotiation Skills and Mediation at Queens University, and Property Law at the University of Ottawa, Faculties of Law. She has also taught Bar Admission courses on Advocacy, Trial Procedure, Legal Ethics and Negotiations. A successful trial lawyer, mediator and negotiator, Peggy offers services to a variety of client groups. A well-known and highly regarded neutral, Dr. Blair has acted as an independent fact-finder on a number of occasions for the Department of Indian Affairs and was a Chief Federal Negotiator in self-government negotiations in northern Ontario involving 27 First Nations. She is perhaps best known for her work as counsel to the Chippewas of Nawash and Saugeen in a precedent-setting and complex case which recognized their constitutional rights to fish commercially in the Great Lakes and her role in negotiating a multi-party co-management agreement which implemented that decision. Dr. Blair was recently selected by a multiple stakeholder group formed of residential school survivors, Crown lawyers and plaintiffs’ counsel to act as a Senior Adjudicator for the Indian Residential Schools Resolution Process. Dr. Blair is a past member of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal and is currently a roster adjudicator and mediator for the ICC International Court of Arbitration (North America) and the London Court of International Arbitration. Dr. Blair was awarded a Prix d'excellence for her LLM thesis by the Association of Quebec Law Professors. Her LLD thesis has also been nominated for an award.  In 2004, she was accepted at the Harvard School of Public Health for the Masters in Public Health program, where she was recommended for a Canada-U.S. Fulbright Scholarship (deferred). She currently lives in Ottawa.