Carla Conkin is a 30 year veteran regulatory/natural resource lawyer and more recently an arbitrator. She is Vice Chair and Acting Chair of the Inuvialuit Arbitration Board under the Inuvialuit Final Agreement, one of Canada’s earliest modern treaties. She is an arbitrator with the Pipeline Arbitration Committee (NEB Act) and she is a part-time Commissioner, Roster Panel Member, for the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada, with cross appointments to the Canada Energy Regulator and Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.
For the 2024 ADRBC Symposium, Carla is bringing together a panel of changemakers/influencers to spotlight ADR approaches in the natural resource sector. This is about how ADR is being informed and advanced by modern treaties, intersectional analysis and how informal systems of justice such as regulatory environmental impact assessments are cutting edge areas to watch, and how Indigenous leadership/governance is changing traditional legal systems, including ADR.
She has vast expertise, as a lawyer, regulator and policy developer in land and water regulation, resource development (mining, oil & gas, forestry, clean energy, contaminated sites), environmental liabilities and fiscal policy. Her experience includes working on Canada’s diamond mines and the Mackenzie Gas Project.
She is a contaminated sites expert, having been involved with Canada’s Federal Contaminated Sites Program, including Canada’s three most contaminated sites: The Giant Mine Remediation Plan, Faro Mine and the Sydney Tar Ponds. She was lead Federal Counsel for the Giant Mine Remediation Plan for over 5 years and in 2010 she received the Department of Justice Canada, Deputy Minister Award for Legal Excellence for her work on Giant.
She works extensively in access to justice matters to advance the public interest in environmental and regulatory matters. Her focus is simplifying complex issues, using strategic analysis, advocacy and sound decision making to reach resolution that is just and responsive.
