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Negotiating Team

The Province of Ontario negotiation team for the Algonquin land claim includes representatives with experience and knowledge covering the span of issues to be addressed in the negotiations, including natural resource and local governance issues. The team includes representatives of the Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs, the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing and the Ministry of Northern Development, Mines and Forestry.

The Ontario negotiation team also combines experience in Aboriginal rights and land claim issues with active and direct representation of local interests. Our team at the negotiating table includes the co-chairs of two broad-based provincial advisory committees. Through their co-chairs, Ontario's Municipal Advisory Committee and Ontario's Committee of External Advisors have direct input and representation in the negotiations. We are pleased to introduce you to the senior members of the Ontario negotiating team.

Ontario Chief Negotiator Brian Crane

Brian Crane, Q.C. is Ontario's chief negotiator for the Algonquin land claim. Appointed to the position in 1998, Mr. Crane is a lawyer in the firm of Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP in Ottawa. He has considerable legal experience relating to Aboriginal rights and land claim issues.

Mr. Crane has worked extensively in the negotiation of native land claims and related litigation. He specializes in constitutional, administrative and commercial law. He appears frequently in the Supreme Court of Canada, the Federal Court and the Ontario Courts.

A frequent speaker at legal seminars and conferences, Mr. Crane is co-author of the text Supreme Court of Canada Practice. He has chaired Canadian Bar Association Committees on the Reform of Parliament, the Federal Judiciary, Reform of the Federal Court, Supreme Court of Canada and Implementation of the Task Force on Systems of Civil Justice.

Called to the Bar in Ontario in 1962, Mr. Crane was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1977 and certified as a specialist in Civil Litigation in 1988. He received his law degree from the University of British Columbia. In 1997 he received the Canadian Bar Association President's Award for excellence and service to the legal profession.

Contact:
Ontario Chief Negotiator
Algonquin Land Claim
Phone: (613) 786-0107

Bill Calvert, Co-Chair, Ontario's Committee of External Advisors

Bill Calvert co-chairs the Committee of External Advisors with Ontario's Chief Negotiator.

Mr. Calvert brings extensive public service experience in a wide variety of fields to Ontario's negotiating team. In the fall of 2001, he retired after two decades as the Chief Administrative Officer of the District Municipality of Muskoka. The position afforded him extensive involvement in tourism, regional economic development and related infrastructure and land use planning matters.

Mr. Calvert, a registered professional forester and wildlife biologist, has held numerous positions with the Ontario government, including Assistant Deputy Minister, Management Board Secretariat; Executive Director, Cabinet Office; Executive Director, Ministry of Culture and Recreation; and Regional Director for Northwestern Ontario, Ministry of Northern Affairs. Mr. Calvert has also held a variety of posts with the Ministry of Natural Resources including Assistant Director of the Conservation Authorities Branch, Parks Supervisor for Southern Ontario, and Assistant Superintendent and Chief Naturalist of Algonquin Park. His areas of expertise include natural resources issues, parks management and planning, regional community development and municipal economic development.

As an active naturalist, hunter and angler, Mr. Calvert has chaired the Natural Heritage League of Ontario, the Friends of Algonquin Park, the Clyde and Bruton Hunters Association, and the Algonquin Wolf Advisory Group.

Michael Johnson, Co-Chair, Ontario's Municipal Advisory Committee

Michael Johnson co-chairs the Municipal Advisory Committee with Ontario's Chief Negotiator.

A well-respected administrator with more than 30 years of experience serving his home county of Renfrew, Mr. Johnson serves as the principal liaison between Ontario's negotiation team and local, county and district governments throughout the claim territory. As a full member of the negotiating team and participant at the negotiation sessions, he ensures that Ontario is advised of municipal interests in regard to the claim.

Mr. Johnson's first job was as a camp clerk in northern Ontario logging camps. His civic career began in 1963, when he accepted the position of county accountant for Renfrew County. In 1985, Mr. Johnson was appointed chief administrative officer of the county, a position he held until his retirement in December 1995.

In addition to his county responsibilities, Mr. Johnson has been involved throughout his career in a variety of organizational activities at the provincial level. He served as vice-chair of the Municipal Liaison Committee and as president of the Association of Counties and Regions of Ontario, a group which subsequently became a section under the Association of Municipalities of Ontario. Mr. Johnson also spent a year lecturing across the province on the topic of local government for the Ontario Conference On Local Government. He has spent several terms as a member of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Federation of Mayors and Municipalities.