Maggie Wente is a partner at Olthuis Kleer Townshend. She is a member of Serpent River First Nation. Wente has a broad practice serving First Nations governments, their related entities, businesses and not-for-profit corporations. She advises on Treaty and Aboriginal rights in litigation and negotiation, human rights of Indigenous people, and in particular on equality for First Nations children and individuals in programs and services, especially in the child welfare system. Wente has also advised on Indian Act matters, reserve land management, and First Nations governance. She provides employment, labour and human rights advice to OKT’s clients. Wente has a particular interest in working with her clients to develop and implement sound governance policies and practices that reflect their traditional laws, as a foundation of self-determining nations.

Wente has appeared in courts of appeal and trial-level courts in Ontario, Newfoundland and Labrador, and in the Federal Court, as well as before arbitrators and adjudicators in commercial arbitrations, labour arbitrations and adjudications under the Canada Labour Code.

Wente graduated from the University of Toronto’s combined LLB/MSW program and from McGill University (BA, Philosophy). She is past-president of the board of directors of Aboriginal Legal Services of Toronto and was a commissioner at the Ontario Human Rights Commission from 2006 to 2015. Wente is a member of the Indigenous Bar Association, the Ontario bar and the Newfoundland and Labrador bar, and is listed as ‘Most Frequently Recommended’ in the Lexpert Directory on Indigenous Law.