Renée Pelletier

Renée Pelletier is a Partner at OKT. Her practice focuses on Aboriginal and Treaty Rights litigation and negotiation. Renée has extensive experience litigating Aboriginal title claims: having served as lead counsel both in Saugeen Ojibway Nation’s Aboriginal title claim to their water territory and currently in the Wolastoqey Nation’s Aboriginal title claim to their territory in New Brunswick. She has also developed significant experience in claims and legal matters involving the Peace and Friendship Treaties. Additionally, Renée regularly advises and represents her Indigenous clients on consultation matters, regulatory and environmental matters.

Renée is especially passionate about assisting her Indigenous clients in achieving greater self-determination. She also strives to incorporate the legal traditions of her Indigenous clients into the work she does on their behalf.

Renée has served as a member of the Independent Federal Environmental Assessment Expert Review Panel. The Panel engaged Canadians and Indigenous peoples and provided recommendations to the Government of Canada on reforms to federal environmental assessment processes. She contributes to the advancement and recognition of Indigenous rights through her published work and was cited by the Supreme Court of Canada in the high-profile case R. v. Ipeelee, 2012 SCC 13. Renée is a frequent guest lecturer in Aboriginal and Environmental Law and is a sessional lecturer at the University of New Brunswick, teaching an upper year course on land claims and self-government. Renée also serves as co-chair of Osgoode Professional Development’s Certificate Program in the Fundamentals of Indigenous Peoples and Canadian Law.

Renée grew up in Fall River, Nova Scotia and is a member of the New Brunswick and Ontario Bars. She is French Acadian, her first language is French, and she is fluently bilingual in both French and English. Renée is listed as a “most frequently recommended” lawyer in the Lexpert Directory and is ranked in Lexpert, Best Lawyers in Canada and Chambers Canada as one of the top lawyers in the area of “Aboriginal Law.” In 2024, Renée was the recipient of Osgoode Hall Law School’s Alumni Gold Key Award for a Career of Distinction.