Jesse McCormick

Jesse McCormick (Anishinaabe/Oneida) provides strategic advice on the implementation of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, regulatory processes for major projects, corporate strategies to support reconciliation and the intersection between environmental protection, natural resource development and protection of Indigenous rights.

Jesse holds degrees from the University of Guelph, the University of Ottawa and the Harvard Law School.   He has served as the Director of Policy and Indigenous Relations for the Minister of Environment and Climate Change and the Director of Rights Implementation for the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada.  In those roles, he contributed to the establishment of Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas and provided strategic advice to support government decision making in relation to major projects.  Jesse held senior leadership roles in the reform of Canada’s federal environmental assessment processes and the development of federal legislation to implement the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Jesse has also contributed to the protection and promotion of Indigenous rights at the international level as a Senior Indigenous Fellow at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.    He is a practicing lawyer and a member of the Law Society of Ontario and the Law Society of British Columbia.   He has over a decade of experience providing legal advice on aboriginal rights and title, regulatory processes and legislative initiatives impacting Indigenous peoples.  Jesse is a proud citizen of Canada, the Anishinabek Nation and the Oneida Nation (Wolf Clan) and he is committed to the achievement of reconciliation through the implementation of rights, treaties and responsibilities.