David Schulze is a founding partner of the law firm of Dionne Schulze and has acquired an expertise in Aboriginal law since his call to the Bar in 1995. Since 2006, he has been named each year as one of the “Best Lawyers” practicing Aboriginal law in Canada by Best Lawyers in Canada and since 2013 by The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory.

David Schulze represents Aboriginal governments and other non-profit organizations, as well as individuals, both in Quebec and elsewhere in Canada. He has argued cases concerning Aboriginal people’s consultation rights from coast to coast, having litigated Inuit and Innu rights in Labrador before the Federal Courts and for the Hupacasath First Nation of Vancouver Island in B.C. Supreme Court.

In addition to providing advice on Aboriginal and treaty rights, David Schulze advises and represents clients on issues including environmental assessment, employment relations and human rights, taxation, access to information and privacy, corporate governance for non-profits and local economic development.

David Schulze’s most important cases include acting for the plaintiffs in the Charter case known as Descheneaux, which successfully challenged sex discrimination in the Indian Act registration (“status”) rules and led to the amendments adopted in 2017 as Bill S-3.

He also appeared for the Abenaki of Québec as intervenors before the British Columbia Court of Appeal in 2008 in the earlier McIvor case, the only party to raise the effects of the double-mother rule that the Court ultimately held created the unconstitutional discrimination that Parliament had to correct through Bill C‑3 in 2010.

Also noteworthy was David Schulze’s representation of Chief Ghislain Picard of the Assembly of First Nations of Québec and Labrador in his class action against the government of Québec concerning the application of the provincial fuel tax on reserve contrary to the Indian Act. A settlement was reached in 2011 and compensation of $24.3 million was paid to the registered Indians of Québec. Legislative amendments were introduced at the same time so that registered Indians can buy fuel on reserve tax-free.

David Schulze represents individuals in cases of historic abuse, including the Independent Assessment Process (IAP) under the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement (IRSSA). In 2016, he represented the claimant known as M.F. before the Ontario Superior Court and the Court of Appeal, which resulted in recognition of M.F.’s right to compensation for his abuse at the Spanish Indian Residential School, after three levels of adjudication under the IAP had dismissed M.F.’s claim. In 2017, David Schulze obtained a rare IAP award for actual income loss, resulting in the eighth-highest compensation award among the tens of thousands of cases heard since the process was created.

Between 2001 and 2018, David Schulze appeared five times for interveners before the Supreme Court of Canada in the leading cases of Wewayakum (Crown’s fiduciary duty to First Nations), NIL-TU’O (federal jurisdiction over Aboriginal services), Hamlet of Clyde River (Crown’s duty to consult the Inuit under modern treaties),  Williams Lake (powers and jurisdiction of the Specific Claims Tribunal), and J.W. (judicial supervision of the IAP).

David Schulze has appeared regularly before the Federal Courts and the Québec Superior Court and Court of Appeal; he has also appeared before the superior or appellate courts of British Columbia, Manitoba and Newfoundland. He has appeared before federal and provincial administrative tribunals, such as the National Energy Board and the Newfoundland Public Utilities Board. He is currently counsel for the Innu of Ekuanitshit before the Muskrat Falls Inquiry (LeBlanc Commission) and for Makivik Corporation before the Public Inquiry Commission on Relations between Indigenous Peoples and Certain Public Services in Québec: Listening, Reconciliation and Progress (Viens Commission).

David Schulze served on the Bar of Québec’s Committee on the Law and Aboriginal Peoples from 1999 to 2012 and has been a member of the editorial board of the Canadian Native Law Reporter since 1996; he has published scholarly articles in law reviews including the McGill Law Journal, the Revue juridique Thémis and the Canadian Tax Journal.

As a volunteer, David Schulze has served on the boards of several not-for-profit organizations, including three terms as a director of Canadian Lutheran World Relief and currently as an observer on the board of the Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund of the Anglican Church of Canada. Before studying law, he trained as a historian with a specialization in Canadian history and previously worked as a professional journalist.

• Canadian Native Law Reporter, member of the editorial board since 1996
• The Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund of the Anglican Church in Canada, Lutheran observer on the board of directors, since 2017
• Canadian Lutheran World Relief, board of directors, member, 2007 to 2016
• Bar of Quebec’s Committee on the Law and Aboriginal Peoples, member, 1999 to 2012
• Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (CAN©OPY, now Access Copyright), member from 1992 to 1995.
• Board of Governors of McGill University, member 1986-1987

• Included among the leading practitioners in Aboriginal law in The Canadian Legal Lexpert® Directory since 2013
• Named the Best Lawyers’ 2014 Montréal Aboriginal Law “Lawyer of the Year”
• Named as one of the “Best Lawyers” practicing Aboriginal law in Canada by Best Lawyers in Canada each year since 2006
• McMillan Binch Award in Tort Law, Osgoode Hall Law School
• Master of Arts received with honours, McGill University
• Bachelor of Arts received with honours, McGill University

• “Administrative law just got a new ‘standard of review’”, Policy Options, 27 January 2020

• “Litigating and Adjudicating as if Reconciliation Didn’t Really Matter: A Critical Look at Justice Canada and the Chief Adjudicator in the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement“, presented at Whose Settlement Agreements? Learning from the 60s Scoop and Indian Residential Schools, University of Regina, 11 October 2019

• Book Review of Histoire des pensionnats indiens catholiques au Québec. Le rôle déterminant des pères oblats by Henri Goulet, (2018) 3 Recherches Amérindiennes au Québec XLVIII

• “Human Rights Complaints : Aboriginal Inequality and Canadian Law”, paper presented at the Canadian Aboriginal Law Conference 2013, Pacific Business and Law Institute, 26-27 November 2013, Ottawa

• « Les lois omnibus C-38 et C-45 et les autochtones : Conducteurs, passagers ou otages sur l’autobus? » Aboriginal Land Resource Management Forum 2014, Insight, 30 September et 1^st October 2013, Montreal

• « La fiscalité en milieu autochtone », paper presented at Conférence avancée sur les partenariats d’affaires avec les communautés autochtones, 13 June 2012, The Canadian Institute, Montréal

• “Status Rules under the Indian Act”, paper presented at Canadian Aboriginal Law 2011, Pacific Business and Law Institute, 25 November 2011, Ottawa

• « La compétence sur les relations de travail en milieu autochtone », paper presented at Forum Autochtone, 8th edition, 22-23 March 2010, Quebec

• “The McIvor Decision and Its Impact”, paper presented at Canadian Aboriginal Law 2009, Pacific Business and Law Institute, 19 November 2009, Ottawa

• « Le jugement Nation Tsilhqot’in c. Colombie-Britannique: Résumé et analyse sommaire », paper presented at the Forum autochtone sur la gestion des ressources naturelles et du territoire, Insight, 23 September 2008, Montréal

• “Comparative Governance Structures Among Aboriginal Peoples in Canada”, research paper prepared for the Scow Institute, January 2008

• “Class Actions and Aboriginal Litigation”, paper presented at Canadian Aboriginal Law 2007, Pacific Business and Law Institute, 16 November 2007, Ottawa

• “Choosing the right business structure for your community”, The Journal of Aboriginal Management, 2006

• « Revendications particulières: le cas des revendications pré-confédératives » paper presented at the Forum autochtone sur la gestion des ressources naturelles et du territoire, Insight, 26 September 2006, Montréal

• “Sorting Out Jurisdiction Over Employment Relations For Aboriginal Employers” paper presented at the 4^th Annual Aboriginal Financial Management Forum, Insight, 12 June 2006, Ottawa

• « Le droit applicable au bail résidentiel dans les réserves indiennes » (2006) 36 Revue générale de droit, pp. 381-432

• “Choosing the right form for band-owned businesses: Taxation and governance implications”, JAM: The Journal of Aboriginal Management, Issue 2, Spring 2006, pp. 25-35

• “Pre-Confederation Claims and Federal and Provincial Obligations: A Survey of the Applicable Law”, paper prepared for the Indian Claims Commission, 11 November 2005, with Peter W. Hutchins and Jameela Jeeroburkhan

• « Le nouveau rôle des Autochtones dans le développement au Québec: les obligations de consultation et d’accommodement », Service de la formation permanente du Barreau du Québec, Livre du Congrès 2005 

• “Band Councils and Corporate Governance: Choosing the Right Form”, paper presented at the 3rd Annual Aboriginal Financial Management Forum, Insight, Ottawa, 16 June 2005

• “Changes to Band Council Powers and Responsibilities under the First Nations Governance Act or, ‘Is That All There Is?’”, paper presented at “Beyond the Indian Act:  Analysis of the Proposed Governance Legislation”, Pacific Business & Law Institute, Ottawa, 10 June 2003

• “The Legality of Administrative Garnishments Under the Income Tax Act and Other Federal Law” (2002) 50 Canadian Tax Journal/Revue fiscale canadienne, 1597

• “Governing Lands and Waters: Limits to Reserve Title and Indian Act Powers in British Columbia and Proposals for Reform”, with Peter R. Grant, (2001) 35 University of British Columbia Law Review 415

• « Un tournant et un renouveau: le contexte historique et juridique de la jurisprudence de la Cour suprême du Canada en droit autochtone depuis 1990 », Service de la formation permanente du Barreau du Québec, Livre du Congrès 2000, pp.85-105

• “Delgamuukw Confirms Broad Aboriginal Rights over Resources” (Spring 1998) No. 62 Resources: The Newsletter of the Canadian Institute of Resource Law 6-7

• “The Murray Treaty of 1760: The Original Document Discovered” [1998] 1 Canadian Native Law Reporter, pp. 1-13

• “Book Review: Denis Vaugeois, La fin des alliances franco-indiennes : Enquête sur un sauf-conduit de 1760 devenu un traité en 1990” (1997), 42 McGill Law Journal, pp. 1045-1053

• « L’application de la Proclamation royale de 1763 dans les frontières originales de la Province de Québec : la décision du Conseil privé dans l’affaire Allsopp » (1997) 31 Revue juridique Thémis, pp. 511-74

• “Lifting the Load Off Their Backs: Legal Solutions to the Third World Debt Crisis” (1996) 36 Indian Journal of International Law, pp. 54-75

• “When Do Fiduciary Obligations to Aboriginal Peoples Arise?” (1996) 59 Saskatchewan Law Review, pp. 97-137 (junior author with Peter W. Hutchins and Carol Hilling)

• “The Privy Council Decision Concerning George Allsopp’s Petition, 1767: An Imperial Precedent on the Application of the Royal Proclamation to the Old Province of Quebec”, [1995] 2 Canadian Native Law Reporter, pp. 1-46.

• “The Aboriginal Right to Self-Government and the Canadian Constitution: The Ghost in the Machine”, with Peter W. Hutchins and Carol Hilling, (1995) 29 University of British Columbia Law Review, pp. 251-299

• “Obstacles to Equity: An Analysis of the Taxation of Disability Income In Canada and Proposals for Reform” [1994] Windsor Yearbook of Access to Justice, pp. 135-161

• “The Industry of the Living Dead: A Critical Look at Disability Insurance” (1993) 9 Journal of Law and Social Policy, pp. 192-221

• “The Industrial Workers of the World and the Unemployed in Edmonton and Calgary in the Depression of 1913-1915” (1990) 25 Labour/Le travail: Canadian Journal of Labour Studies, pp. 47-75

• “The Politics of Power: Rural Electrification in Alberta, 1920-1984”, M.A. thesis, McGill University, 1989, 188 pp.

• “Rural Manufacture in Lower Canada: Understanding Seigneurial Privilege and the Transition in the Countryside” (1984) 7 Alternate Routes: A Critical Review, pp. 134-167

Supreme Court of Canada

J.W. v. Canada (Attorney General), 2019 SCC 20

Williams Lake Indian Band v. Canada (Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development), 2018 SCC 4

Clyde River (Hamlet) v. Petroleum Geo‑Services Inc., 2017 SCC 40

NIL/TU,O Child and Family Services Society v. B.C. Government and Service Employees’ Union, 2010 SCC 45, [2010] 2 S.C.R. 696

Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada v. Native Child and Family Services of Toronto, 2010 SCC 46, [2010] 2 S.C.R. 737

Wewaykum Indian Band v. Canada, 2002 SCC 79, [2002] 4 S.C.R. 245

2003 SCC 45, [2003] 2 S.C.R. 259

R. v. Côté, [1996] 3 S.C.R. 139 (assisted in drafting arguments for the intervener the Conseil de la nation atikamekw)

Québec Court of Appeal

Procureure générale du Canada c. Descheneaux, 2017 QCCA 1238 [2017] 4 C.N.L.R. 1

Makivik Corporation c. Quebec (Attorney general), 2014 QCCA 1455, [2015] 1 C.N.L.R. 215

Innu Takuaikan Uashat Mak Mani-Utenam c. Noël, [2004] R.J.Q. 2124, [2004] 4 C.N.L.R. 66

Municipalité d’Oka c. Simon, [1999] R.J.Q. 108, [1999] 2 C.N.L.R. 205

Superior Court of Québec

Descheneaux v. Canada (Attorney general), 2015 QCCS 3555, [2016] 2 C.N.L.R. 175

Papatie v. Quebec (Attorney General), 2013 QCCS 868, [2013] R.J.Q. 505, 362 D.L.R. (4th) 720

Makivik Corporation  v. Québec (Attorney General), 2011 QCCS 5955, [2012] 4 C.N.L.R. 175

Picard v. Québec (Attorney General), 2011 QCCS 7095, [2012] 2 C.N.L.R. 172

Estate of Bordeau Santoro v. Bordeau, 2011 QCCS 1736, [2011] 3 C.N.L.R. 98

A.K. c. Kativik School Board, 2009 QCCS 4152, J.E. 2009-1902

Sylvestre c. Conseil Mohawk de Kanesatake, 2008 QCCS 1203, [2008] 4 R.J.Q. 1057

Picard v. Québec (Attorney General), 2007 QCCS 2122, [2007] 4 C.N.L.R. 225

Tulugak c. Inuulitsivik Health Center, 2006 QCCS 5013, J.E. 2006-2009

Tulugak c. Inuulitsivik Health Center, 2005 QCCS 47997, J.E. 2006-400

Kativik School Board v. Makivik Corp., [2004] 2 C.N.L.R. 49

Federal Courts

Conseil des Innus de Ekuanitshit v. Canada (Fisheries and Oceans), 2015 CF 1298, [2016] 2 C.N.L.R. 107

Council of the Innu of Ekuanitshit v. Canada (Attorney General), 2014 FCA 189, [2015] 1 C.N.L.R. 51

Conseil des innus de Ekuanitshit c. Canada (Procureur général), 2013 FC 418, [2013] 3 C.N.L.R. 145

Mohawks of Kanesatake v. Canada, 2012 FC 282, 406 F.T.R. 151

Micmac Nation of Gespeg v. Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, 2009 FCA 377, [2010] 1 F.C.R. D-1, 402 N.R. 313

Micmac First Nation v. Canada (Indian Affairs and Northern Development), 2007 FC 1036, [2008] 1 C.N.L.R. 65

Abénakis of Wôlinak Band Council v. Jules Bernard, (2000) 191 F.T.R. 2000

Makivik Corp. v. Canada (Minister of Canadian Heritage), [1999] 1 F.C. 38 (T.D.), [1998] 4 C.N.L.R. 68

Abénakis of Wôlinak Band Council v. Jules Bernard, (1998), [1999] 2 C.N.L.R. 51 (F.C.T.D.)

Court of Québec

Mathias c. Québec (Sous-ministre du Revenu), 2008 QCCQ 12455, [2009] R.D.F.Q. 194

Stacey c. Sauvé Plymouth Chrysler (1991) Inc., [2002] R.J.Q. 1779, [2002] R.R.A. 654

Ministère de la justice c. Schulze, [2000] R.J.Q. 1933, [2000] C.A.I. 413

Conseil de la Nation Atikamekw c. Québec (Ministère de l’Environnement et de la Faune), [1998] C.A.I. 506

Ministère de la justice c. Schulze, [1998] R.J.Q. 2180

Other provinces

David Suzuki Foundation v. Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board, 2018 NLSC 146

Fontaine v. Canada (Attorney General), 2018 ONCA 421

Fontaine v. Canada (Attorney General), 2018 BCSC 63, [2018] 5 W.W.R. 279, 7 B.C.L.R. (6th) 337

Fontaine v. Canada (Attorney General), 2017 ONCA 26, 137 O.R. (3d) 90, [2017] 1 C.N.L.R. 154, 412 D.L.R. (4th) 738

Fontaine v Canada (Attorney General), 2016 ONSC 4326 [2016], 4 C.N.L.R. 40

McIvor v. Canada (Registrar of Indian and Northern Affairs), 2009 BCCA 153, [2010] 2 C.N.L.R. 209

R. v. Malleck, 2007 NLTD 201, 274 Nfld. & P.E.I.R. 264

Hupacasath First Nation v. British Columbia (Minister of Forests) et al., 2005 BCSC 1712, [2006] 1 C.N.L.R. 22

Manitoba (Hydro-Electric Board) v. Cross Lake First Nation, 2005 MBQB 33, [2005] 6 W.W.R. 752

R. v. Reid, 2004 BCCA 580, 190 C.C.C. (3^d) 417

Tax Court of Canada

Beal v. Canada (1995), [1996] 1 C.T.C. 2281

Administrative tribunals

Conseil en éducation des Premières Nations (CEPN) et Québec (Procureur général), 2011 QCCLP 4247, [2011] C.L.P. 202

In the matter of an application for certification filed by the Periodical Writers Association of Canada (1996), 70 C.P.R. (3d) 405 (Canadian Artists and Producers Professional Relations Tribunal)