Maggie Wente (BA, LLB, MSW) is a partner at Olthuis Kleer Townshend LLP. She is a member of Serpent River First Nation and was born and raised in Toronto. Recently Maggie focuses much of her practice on advocating for equality for Indigenous children and individuals in child welfare systems and the exercise of inherent jurisdiction over child well-being. She does this in litigation and in negotiation about child welfare funding, program delivery and First Nations law-making. Maggie also advises and litigates about a broad range of First Nations governance matters as well as ways to uphold constitutionally protected Aboriginal rights. Maggie has appeared in all levels of court in Ontario, Newfoundland and Labrador, and the Federal Court and in the Supreme Court of Canada. Maggie is actively involved in community service, service to the profession, and mentors students and young lawyers both within and outside OKT. Maggie is President of the Indigenous Leadership Initiative, past-President of the Board of Directors at Aboriginal Legal Services of Toronto and was a Commissioner at the Ontario Human Rights Commission from 2006 to 2015. She is a member of the Indigenous Bar Association, the Law Society of Ontario and the Law Society of Newfoundland and Labrador.
