Adrienne Telford

Bio

Adrienne is driven by a commitment to using the law as a tool for advancing justice, equity, and collective well‑being. She works closely with clients to solve complex legal problems and to find strategic, principled, and creative ways to promote their individual and collective interests before courts, administrative tribunals, and governments.

Adrienne’s practice spans constitutional and public law, Aboriginal law and Indigenous rights, labour law, human rights, elections law, professional discipline, and national security law. She appears regularly before trial and appellate courts – including the Supreme Court of Canada – as well as before numerous administrative boards, tribunals, and grievance arbitrators. She also represents clients in negotiations with governments and employers, and serves as a court‑appointed Special Advocate or amicus curiae in national security matters.

Adrienne’s representative litigation and advocacy experience includes acting as counsel to:

• The Working Families Coalition and the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association (“OECTA”) in a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of Canada affirming the scope of the democratic right to vote under s. 3 of the Charter: Ontario (Attorney General) v. Working Families Coalition (Canada) Inc., 2025 SCC 5.
• Grassy Narrows First Nation (Asubpeeschoseewagong Anishinabek) in a Supreme Court of Canada decision on treaty interpretation and Crown duties under s. 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982: Ontario (Attorney General) v. Restoule, 2024 SCC 27; and in ongoing litigation against the federal and provincial Crown relating to Grassy Narrows’ Treaty rights, environmental remediation, and the Crown’s duties to protect Grassy Narrows’ Anishinaabe way of life.
• OECTA in a precedent‑setting Ontario Court of Appeal decision striking down Ontario’s wage‑restraint legislation (Bill 124) for unconstitutionally violating s. 2(d) collective bargaining rights: Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association v. Ontario (Attorney General), 2024 ONCA 101.
• OECTA in a series of arbitration decisions relating to the employer’s duty to disclose health and safety related information to unions and workers and awarding punitive and reputational damages for health and safety non‑compliance: Toronto Catholic District School Board v. Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association, 2018 CanLII 59943 (ON LA), 2020 CanLII 12805 (ON LA), and 2021 CanLII 44852.
• The Association of Ontario Midwives in leading decisions establishing systemic gender discrimination in compensation: Ontario (Health) v. Association of Ontario Midwives, 2022 ONCA 458, 2020 ONSC 2839, and Association of Ontario Midwives v. Ontario (Ministry of Health and Long‑Term Care), 2018 HRTO 1335 and 2020 HRTO 165.
• Labourers’ International Union of North America, Local 183 (“LiUNA 183”), in a Divisional Court decision upholding an arbitrator’s finding of systemic racism and unconscious bias: CTS (ASDE) Inc. v. Labourers’ International Union of North America et al., 2023 ONSC 1640.
• The Service Employees’ International Union (“SEIU”) in precedent‑setting Ontario Court of Appeal decisions recognising the right of workers in predominantly female workplaces to maintain pay equity by comparison to male work outside their own workplaces: Ontario Nurses’ Association & SEIU v. Participating Nursing Homes, 2021 ONCA 148 and 2021 ONCA 149.
• The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (“CUPW”), including in a successful Charter challenge to back‑to‑work legislation: Canadian Union of Postal Workers v. Her Majesty in Right of Canada, 2016 ONSC 418; in the Supreme Court of Canada’s milestone decision recognizing constitutional protection for the right to strike: Saskatchewan Federation of Labour v. Saskatchewan, 2015 SCC 4; in a Supreme Court of Canada decision interpreting employers’ occupational health and safety obligations: Canada Post Corporation v. Canadian Union of Postal Workers, 2019 SCC 67; and in appellate litigation on the reasonableness of workplace standards: Canada Post Corporation v. Canadian Union of Postal Workers, 2019 ONCA 476.
• The Specific Claims Tribunal of Canada in a Supreme Court of Canada decision establishing the standard of review applicable to the Tribunal and upholding findings of Crown breaches of fiduciary duties in the reserve allotment process: Williams Lake Indian Band v. Canada (Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development), 2018 SCC 4.
• The Ontario Crown Attorneys’ Association in a Supreme Court of Canada decision on the standards of professional conduct that apply to lawyers in court: Groia v. Law Society of Upper Canada, 2018 SCC 27.
• LiUNA 183 in a constitutional challenge to the application of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act to tribunal adjudicative records: Toronto Star v. AG Ontario, 2018 ONSC 2586.
• A coalition of Ontario teachers’ unions in a Supreme Court of Canada decision affirming constitutional protection for meaningful collective bargaining: British Columbia Teachers’ Federation v. British Columbia, 2016 SCC 49.
• The Canadian Civil Liberties Association (“CCLA”) and the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression, in a pro bono Charter challenge to Bill C‑51, Canada’s Anti‑Terrorism Act, 2015.
• Mr. Simons, the HIV/AIDS Legal Network, PASAN, and other community organizations, in a pro bono constitutional challenge to restrictions on access to sterile injection equipment in federal prisons.
• OECTA in a precedent-setting decision of the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal relating to age discrimination in employment benefits: Talos v. Grand Erie District School Board, 2015 HRTO 448.
• The CCLA in a successful injunction against the police’s use of sound cannons against protesters during the G20 Summit: Canadian Civil Liberties Association v. Toronto Police Service, 2010 ONSC 3525.
• Michael McKinnon in a decision addressing systemic anti‑Indigenous racism in Ontario correctional institutions: Ministry of Correctional Services v. McKinnon, 2010 ONSC 3896.

Adrienne is a regular speaker and writer on labour and constitutional law, human rights, Aboriginal law and Indigenous rights, oral advocacy, and public sector collective bargaining. She has prepared several papers and book chapters and has served as adjunct faculty at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, teaching constitutional in the Global Professional Master of Laws Program. She is co‑author, with Paul J. J. Cavalluzzo, of the chapter on freedom of association in Errol Mendes & Stéphane Beaulac, Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, 6th Edition (2025).

Before joining the firm, Adrienne clerked for Madam Justice Deschamps of the Supreme Court of Canada. She is a graduate of the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Law and holds a B.Sc. from McGill University’s School of Environment.

Outside of practice, Adrienne can be found on the dance floor, travelling by bicycle, hiking in the coastal mountains of British Columbia, or learning guitar.