Shawnee B. Monchalin

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.