Overview
Shawnee Monchalin is Algonquin, Wendat and Metis and was raised on the Attiwonderonk Territory. Shawnee is a member of Miller Thomson's Commercial Litigation Group. She has a diverse commercial litigation practice with a focus on Aboriginal, administrative, and environmental matters.
Shawnee commenced her legal career at Miller Thomson as a summer student in 2017, 2018 and returned for her articles in 2020. In 2017, Shawnee was the first Indigenous summer student intern with Miller Thomson, where she gained experience in environmental regulation matters, Indigenous governance, economic development on reserve, Indigenous law implementation, general commercial litigation and business law with a focus on technology companies. During her second summer at Miller Thomson, Shawnee participated in a secondment on reserve where she focused on land hold disputes.
Prior to her career as a lawyer, Shawnee was a clinician at the Indigenous Community Legal Clinic in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, providing pro bono legal counsel for Indigenous clients. She completed a directed research in Uganda on inequitable division of profits in the forestry industry on Indigenous Traditional Territory, and studied International Human Rights at Hebrew University (Jerusalem). She was Vice President (2017) and External Fundraiser (2018) for the Indigenous Law Students’ Association (ILSA) and the ILSA Representative on the Women’s Caucus Executive.
Outside of the legal community, Shawnee is a dancer for Butterflies in Spirit – a group committed to bringing awareness to Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and 2SLGBTQQIA people. She was a varsity athlete on UBC’s Women’s Rugby Team (2010 – 2015) and continues her involvement as a board member on the UBC Thunderbird (Varsity Athletics) Alumni Council. Shawnee has a love for travel that has provided her with extensive international experience and is currently learning Cree and Ojibwe.
Professional achievements & leadership
- British Columbia Law Society Indigenous Student Award, 2019
- Aboriginal Lawyers Forum Student Award, 2018
- J.E. (Jack) Klink, QC Student Award, 2018
- Indigenous Law Students’ Association Award, 2017
- Mark Gervin Metis Award for Distinguished Advocacy and Leadership, 2017
- Harold F. and Bedner Uphill Scholarship in Law, 2016
Corporate directorships
- Board Member, University of British Columbia Thunderbird Varsity Alumni Council
Professional memberships
- Canadian Bar Association
- Indigenous Bar Association
- Vancouver Bar Association
Bar admissions & education
- British Columbia Bar, 2021
- J.D., Peter A. Allard School of Law, University of British Columbia, 2019
- J.D. Exchange, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2019
- B.A., University of British Columbia, 2015