Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond consented to a reprimand and an order to pay $10,000 to non-profit organization

Non-practising BC lawyer Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond consented to a reprimand and an order to pay $10,000 after admitting to professional misconduct. The funds will be paid to an organization that supports Indigenous justice initiatives.  

In a consent agreement, Turpel-Lafond admitted that she committed professional misconduct by making representations that she knew or ought to have known were false or inaccurate in her testimony at the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls and in her application to become a member of the Law Society of BC.

In approving the consent agreement, the Chair of the Discipline Committee considered an Agreed Statement of Facts, a letter from Turpel-Lafond, and the fact that she did not have a prior disciplinary history.

The Chair was not asked to consider any alleged conduct concerns that pre-dated Turpel-Lafond becoming a member of the Law Society of BC, or any issues related to her identity as an Indigenous person, for reasons set out in the summary of the consent agreement.

A summary of the consent agreement can be found here.