Bio:
Cynthia Westaway is the Regional Leader of the Aboriginal Law Group in the Ottawa office of Borden Ladner Gervais LLP and Counsel in the area of public law. She received her law degree from the University of Western Ontario, a Diplôme français juridique from
the University of Laval in Québec City, and an LL.M. from the University of Ottawa, completing half her study at the Washington College of Law at American University, and clerked for Madame Justice L’Heureux-Dubé (Supreme Court of Canada, 1998) and Justice Yvon Pinard (Federal Court of Canada, 1994). Prior to joining BLG she served as the Head of the Justice Legal Service Unit to the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade and as Director of the Trade Law Bureau. She has 10 years of experience at the Federal Aboriginal Affairs Portfolio (AAP), where she advised on self-government negotiations for the Aboriginal Justice Directorate and led the consultation and accommodation file at the Aboriginal Law and Strategic Policy section. In her last years at the AAP, Cynthia was a Team Leader at the Resolutions Branch for litigation across Canada on Aboriginal rights and title, treaty, and Métis issues. Cynthia has also worked as an associate lawyer in the fields of Aboriginal, labour, and employment law, and gained experience in labour law as in-house Counsel to the Canadian Association of University Teachers.
Title of paper:
Aboriginal Women in Business: Forging Ahead