Merrilee Rasmussen, KC

About Merrilee

Merrilee Rasmussen, KC, is a lawyer with Rasmussen Rasmussen & Charowsky Legal Professional Corporation in Regina, a member of the Law Society of Saskatchewan since 1976 and the Law Society of Nunavut since 2004. She practises primarily in Aboriginal law, administrative law, constitutional law, labour and employment law, and municipal law. Before moving into private practice in 1988, she served for more than a decade as Legislative Counsel and Law Clerk for the Saskatchewan Legislature, and she was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1996. Rasmussen was a constitutional advisor to Saskatchewan on Aboriginal issues during the 1992 Charlottetown Accord negotiations and represented the province on the drafting team for the 1994 Agreement on Internal Trade. From 2000 to 2003 she worked with the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations on treaty-based self-government negotiations, and she is currently assisting the Metis Nation-Saskatchewan with constitutional and legislative changes to implement Metis self-government. Between 2006 and 2017 she adjudicated more than 500 residential school claims under the national class action settlement process, and since 2003 she has advised Nunavut's Liquor Licensing Board and, since 2016, its Labour Standards Board, as well as acting as counsel for the Nunavut Public Guardian and Public Trustee. She chaired the Saskatchewan Law Reform Commission from 2000 to 2008 and the Saskatchewan Archives Board from 2005 to 2009, and has appeared before all levels of court in Saskatchewan and Nunavut, the Federal Court, the Federal Court of Appeal, and the Supreme Court of Canada. She holds a B.A. and M.A. from the University of Regina and an LL.B. and LL.M. from the University of Saskatchewan.

Practice areas

Indigenous Law Administrative & Regulatory Law Employment & Labour Law Civil Litigation & Dispute Resolution

Education & credentials

Law school

University of Saskatchewan

Undergraduate

University of Regina, B.A.

Other degrees

M.A., University of Regina (thesis awarded the Governor General's Gold Medal, 1995)
LL.M., University of Saskatchewan