Canadian Lawyer InHouse

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2019 42 INHOUSE MICHAEL MCKINNEY has seen a dramatic evolution of First Nations self- governance in the last three decades, going from a period of little to no recognition to now a period in which the Sawridge First Nation has signed a memorandum of understanding with the federal government to gain further recognition for self- determination. McKinney is executive director, general counsel with the Sawridge Group of Com- panies, part of the Sawridge First Nation in Slave Lake, Alta., located at the east end of the Lesser Slave Lake near the town of Slave Lake. It is an original signatory to Treaty 8 and considered a leader in self-determina- tion and economic development. It adopted its own Constitution in 2009. He is also currently serving as president of the Canadian Corporate Counsel Asso- ciation, named to the position in September of last year. McKinney is GC for both the Sawridge Cree First Nation and the Sawridge Group of Companies, which have different gover- nance structures. The First Nation is gov- erned by a counsel and in 2009 passed a constitution so they now have an assembly. "They have a pretty signifi cant gover- nance structure and then the group of com- panies, which are held separately by some trusts, which are overseen by trustees and independent board of directors, are totally separate. I report to two different gover- nance bodies," he says. McKinney has been with Sawridge for 32 years. He articled with the organization and a year later was promoted to executive director and general counsel. "A friend in law school said they were looking for an articling student and I ap- plied. I knew very little about First Nations or Indian law as it was called then. The whole area has changed so dramatically during my career. When I fi rst started, it was questionable whether First Nations had the capacity to do anything. Very few First Nations had any investments or corpora- tions — most of them weren't involved in the mainstream economy and the duty to consult hadn't been recognized yet," he says. Most First Nations were not governing themselves to a great degree. Today, he says, the duty to consult has been recognized and created a situation where they are much more involved in what's happening in their traditional territory and local areas and they have become more involved in investing and governing themselves. McKinney splits his time between an of- fi ce near Slave Lake and one based in Ed- monton and is the only lawyer for Sawridge. The Sawridge Group of Companies consists of various real estate holdings, land devel- opments, retail and service businesses and three hotels — Sawridge Inn and Confer- ence Centre Peace River, Sawridge Inn and Conference Centre Edmonton South and a Best Western Plus Sawridge Suites in Fort McMurray. "We have gone through a lot of changes and businesses — it hasn't been the same job for 32 years; there has been a lot of change that has kept it interesting," he says. "I do use a lot of outside counsel for litigation and some M&A. The trend has been to do more and more work in-house over the years." The work he manages includes corporate commercial in the area of acquisitions, dis- positions, HR issues, litigation and major catastrophes such as incidents in Fort Mc- Murray and Slave Lake. "We've been in- volved in a lot of insurance work and dealing with government on those things," he says. On the First Nations side, McKinney says, the work is more along the lines of dealing with a government body such as drafting laws and regulations, helping to write policy. He also serves as the clerk of the assembly, which meets every month. "We have a lot going on with the First Nations governance side such as claims that deal with the government and helping Advocating for a First Nation's interests Sawridge First Nation has just signed a memorandum of understanding with the federal government to gain further recognition for self-determination. BY JENNIFER BROWN

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