Catherine Boies Parker, KC* Associate Counsel

Telephone: 778.557.2404
E-mail: cboiesparker@arvayfinlay.ca Pronouns: she/her/hers Administrative Support: Tiffany Webb (250.380-2788)

Catherine Boies Parker, KC is called to the Bars of British Columbia, Ontario, and Yukon. Her areas of practice include constitutional, aboriginal, administrative, privacy, and environmental law, as well as labour and employment law.

Catherine has appeared at all levels of Court, and before numerous administrative and regulatory tribunals.  Catherine provides litigation and policy support for a wide range of public bodies, and conducts workplace investigations for both private and public clients. Catherine is a frequent guest lecturer on topics such as constitutional law, privacy law and civil liberties. She is  the founding president of the Pacific Centre for Environmental Law and Litigation, a  former director of the Mary Manning Centre, Child Abuse Prevention and Counselling Society of Greater Victoria and a former Chair of the ORCA Children’s Advocacy Centre Society.

Catherine was awarded the 2008 Contribution to the Law Award from the Victoria Bar Association in recognition of her work on a case involving the Charter rights of Victoria’s homeless. In 2009, she received a Human Rights Honours Award, sponsored by the Vancouver Island Human Rights Institute and presented by the Honourable Stephen L. Point. In 2016, Catherine received the George S. Goyer QC Memorial Award for Distinguished Service, and in 2017, she was honoured with the designation of Queen’s (King’s) Counsel.

Publications & Speaking Engagements

  • Panel Member, Current Charter issues in Labour Law, November 2013 (CALL Regional Conference)

  • Keynote Speaker, Access to Justice through Public Interest Law, October 2013 (Pro Bono Students Canada, Calgary chapter)

  • Panel Member, Human Rights and Accommodation Conference, April 2013, (Lancaster House)

  • Panel Member “Digital Indiscretion and Electronic Snooping: New Rules for an Interconnected Age”, December 2012 (Lancaster House)

  • Panel Member, Select Issues in Procedural Fairness, Administrative Law Conference 2011 (Continuing Legal Education Society of BC)

  • Panel Member, Comments on Fraser v. Ontario, November, 2011 (CBA Labour Section)

  • “Update of Section 7: How the Other Half is Fighting to Stay Warm, 23 Canadian Journal of Administrative Law and Practice 165

  • Panel Member, Recent Developments in the Charter, Suing and Defending the Government 2010 (Continuing Legal Education Society of BC)

  • Panel Member, Impact on Bargaining of the Supreme Court’s decision in the Health Services Case, Bargaining in the Broader Public Sector Conference (Lancaster House, 2007)

  • “Charter Claims, Limitations Periods and Public Interest Immunity: A Brief Reply” Suing and Defending the Government - 2006 Update (Continuing Legal Education Society of British Columbia, January, 2006)

  • Panel Member, Harassment in the Workplace, Labour Arbitration Conference, 2004 (Lancaster House)

  • Expert Speaker, BC Offshore Resources: Problems and Potential, MASC Workshop for Lawyers (Maritime Awards Society of Canada, March 2004)

  • Co-author, “Selected Concerns of Aboriginal People” Access to Information Review Task Force Report No. 21 (Government of Canada)

  • “Case Update: Campbell, de Jong and Plant et al v. A.G.B.C., A.G. Canada and the Nisga’a Nation” Aboriginal Law in Canada, 2001(New Investment and Trade Association)

  • “Stretching the Limitation Period: Novak v. Bond” 25 Winning Strategies in Personal Injury Actions: Valuable Practice Tips for Success (Trial Lawyers Association of British Columbia, October 1999)

  • Book Review “Unjust Relations: Aboriginal Rights in Canadian Courts” (1996) 11 Canadian Journal of Law and Society 303

* A professional law corporation.