Alana Degrave

Lawyer

Email: alana@woodwardandcompany.com

Assistant: Dawn Imlach | dawn@woodwardandcompany.com

Profile

Alana’s practice centres primarily on aboriginal rights, consultation and accommodation of aboriginal rights, and lease issues (drafting lease and sublease agreements, litigation over lease issues). She also handles some employment law, including wrongful dismissals.

Alana’s aboriginal law practice began in 2003, starting as a co-op student at Woodward & Co. She is keenly interested in social justice, systemic discrimination and poverty issues. Initially Alana considered pursuing a career in clinical psychology until her philosophy changed and she had the realization that pathology is generally with social systems, not within an individual.

Alana incorporates a holistic perspective to her law practice: she wants to see empowered communities have resources in order to assist their own members be healthy and vibrant. Alana also works part-time at the Law Centre as the Aboriginal Outreach program lawyer. She works with Aboriginal individuals and organizations in and around Victoria on family, criminal, small claims and other legal issues. The goal is to work with individuals, who have one or more legal issues, in a broader capacity and using creative means such that the individual can attempt to identify and resolve the root causes of their legal issue(s). She sees the work at Woodward and the Law Centre as complementary: she works with Aboriginal organizations at Woodward & Company in assisting them to gain control and access over land and resources, for the betterment of the community, and at the Law Centre, she assists individual members in accessing personal resources for the betterment of themselves and their community.

Alana is originally from Winnipeg. She enjoys the outdoors and being active (running, hiking, swimming, road and mountain biking, camping, scuba diving), traveling (locally and abroad), and misses Winnipeg for the Northern Lights and winter activities.

Professional Standing:

Member, Law Society of B.C. (2005)

Awards:

The Humanitarian Award and MacIsaac & Company Prize in Community Law, University of Victoria Faculty of Law.

Selected Cases, Publications, Papers & Presentations:

Xeni Gwet'in First Nations v. British Columbia, 2007 BCSC 853, [2007] B.C.W.L.D. 4681, [2007] B.C.W.L.D. 4683, [2007] B.C.W.L.D. 4682, [2007] 4 C.N.L.R. 353 (decision by the Registrar with respect to costs).
Gitxaala Nation Council v. Gitxaala Treaty Society, 2007 BCSC 1845
Desmond v. British Columbia (Regional Water Manager), [2006] B.C.W.L.D. 5043.
Lewis v. Kitkatla Band Council, 2006 CarswellNat 892.

Other Activities:

Current volunteering:
CBA Vancouver Island Aboriginal Law Subsection, member at large.
Community Adult Mentoring and Support (CAMS), Mentor – through the Correctional Service of Canada, volunteer with high risk offenders on day parole to help assist their transition into the community prior to full parole
Laren Society, Director – Laren Society manages a halfway house in Victoria, currently fundraising to add an extension to the house
Operation Trackshoes, Counselor – Operation Trackshoes is a weekend event for people of all ages with mental disabilities to play track sports in a competitive, recreational and social environment.
Belong to 2 book clubs, have PADI (scuba dive around town), recreational runner (competed one half marathon, will be looking to complete first full in San Francisco in Oct, many races between 5-10km), enjoys trekking (hiked the West Coast Trail twice and the Inca Trail once)