Zachary Thiffault

Associate
  • he / him / his

Admitted to the Ontario Bar: 2021
  • Toronto

Print Bio

Instructions: Select the fields that you wish to include in the pdf generation.

% size of the Font for Generated PDF (Default is 80%)


  • Bio
  • Awards & Recognition
  • Professional Involvement
  • Selected Speaking Engagements
  • Selected Publications
  • Education

Zac works closely with Indigenous clients as a trusted advisor and advocate, providing practical and strategic legal support. He is committed to advancing and protecting Indigenous rights, while contributing to long‑term, sustainable futures grounded in self‑determination. Zac approaches each matter with careful analysis and a creative mindset, and values building strong, trust‑based relationships with the clients and communities he serves. Zac brings his own experiences as an Indigenous lawyer to provide empathetic, responsive and solution-oriented advice to his clients.

Zac is a member of the firm’s Indigenous Practice Group. He is also a member of the firm’s Litigation & Dispute Resolution Group. Zac’s practice largely focuses on Métis rights matters, as well as negotiations related to self-government and harvesting rights, litigation before the courts and work connected to historic claims and grievances. He is involved at every stage of rights-based claims, assisting clients through sophisticated dispute resolution processes and formal legal proceedings. Zac is also experienced in providing governance support, taking pragmatic approaches to assist Indigenous governments and organizations in building their own structures, institutions and pathways forward.

Prior to joining Aird & Berlis, Zac articled and worked at a full-service firm in Midland, Ontario, with his practice focusing on litigation and estate planning, and as in-house counsel to an Indigenous government.

Zac is Métis from the Georgian Bay Métis Community and is a citizen of the Métis Nation of Ontario.

Awards & Recognition

  • King Charles III Coronation Medal, awarded by the Métis Nation of Ontario for contributions to the Métis Nation through promotion and preservation of Métis history and advancing Métis self-determination, April 2025

Professional Involvement

Memberships

  • Member in Good Standing, Law Society of Ontario
  • Past Board Member and Secretary, Indigenous Bar Association
  • The Advocates' Society
  • Ontario Bar Association

Community Involvement

  • Brothers and Sisters-in-Law Alumni Mentor, uOttawa Faculty of Law
  • Regular Instructor, Consultation (and Beyond) With Indigenous Peoples Program, Osgoode Hall Law School
  • Past Co-Chair, Young Advocates Standing Committee (YASC) on Mental Health & Wellness

Selected Speaking Engagements

Instructor, "Métis Rights Recognition Under Section 35 Insights & Application in Consultation," Certificate in Consultation with Indigenous Peoples, Osgoode Hall Law School, March 2026.

Moderator, "Louis Riel Day 2025," Law Society of Ontario, November 2025.

Co-Presenter, "Ontario Métis Facts: Culture, History, & Meeting the Challenges of Today," Reconciliation Through Art, Almonte, ON, September 2025.

Instructor, "Overview of Métis Rights Recognition – Powley, Daniels, & Beyond," Indigenous Justice of the Peace Seminar, June 2025.

Instructor, "Métis Rights Recognition Under Section 35: Insights & Application," Certificate in Consultation with Indigenous Peoples, Osgoode Hall Law School, April 2025.

Panellist and Moderator, "Métis Families and Political Action in the Upper Great Lakes," Louis Riel Day 2024, Law Society of Ontario, November 2024.

Moderator, "Métis Rights," Indigenous Bar Association 36th Annual Conference, October 2024.

Moderator, "Île-à-la-Crosse Métis Residential School & Reassuming Jurisdiction Over Métis Child and Family Services," Indigenous Bar Association 36th Annual Conference, October 2024.

Presenter, "Métis Families and Political Action in the Upper Great Lakes," Reconciliation Through Art, Almonte, ON, September 2024.

Panellist, "Insights and Application of Métis Law Within Ontario," Current Updates and Insights on Aboriginal Law, Ontario Bar Association, September 2024.

Moderator, "Louis Riel Day 2023," Law Society of Ontario, November 2023.

Conference Co-Chair and Panellist, "Looking Back, Moving Forward," Métis Rights Conference, Métis Nation of Ontario, November 2023.

Moderator, "The Powley Decision at 20 Years (Plenary Panel)," Indigenous Bar Association 35th Annual Conference, October 2023.

Panellist, "Resistance and Resilience: A Panel on Indigenous Self-Governance," Queen's Conference on Indigenous Reconciliation, February 2023.

Moderator, "Revisiting the Legal Professional’s Role in Addressing Systemic Discrimination of Indigenous Peoples," The Advocates' Society, February 2023.

Moderator, "Addressing Systemic Discrimination of Indigenous Peoples," The Advocates' Society, February 2022.

Guest Lecturer, "Métis Mobility, Beadwork, and the Supreme Court of Canada," CML 3162: Advanced Studies in Aboriginal Law: Beadwork and the Law, University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law, Ottawa, ON, October 2021.

Guest Lecturer, "Mobility in Kinship: Métis, Mobility, and Beadwork," CML 3162: Advanced Studies in Aboriginal Law: Beadwork and the Law, University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law, Ottawa, ON, March 2021.

Guest Lecturer, "Tips on How to Write a Legal Memo," Law 112I: Transsystemic Legal Processes, Research and Writing, University of Victoria, Faculty of Law, Victoria, B.C., February 2021.

Selected Publications

Co-Author, "The Future of Advocacy and Work Arrangements 'Post'-Pandemic," Keeping Tabs, The Advocates' Society, July 2022.

Education

  • Barrister and Solicitor Licensing Examinations, Law Society of Ontario, 2020
  • JD (Common Law), University of Ottawa, 2020
  • BSocSc (Joint Honours in History and Political Science), University of Ottawa, 2017

Expertise

Indigenous
Litigation & Dispute Resolution