Merrill W. Shepard
Email: merrill_shepard@aboriginal-law.com
Practice Profile
Merrill Shepard is a member of the law firm of Donovan & Company. He received his undergraduate degree from York University, Toronto, Ontario, his law degree from Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario and was called to the British Columbia Bar in 1975 and to the Northwest Territories Bar in 2001.
Between 1971 and 1973 he was a solicitor with the federal departments of Justice and Finance in Ottawa with primary responsibility for drafting amendments to the Income Tax Act and Regulations.
From 1974 to 2001 he was in private practice in Vancouver primarily in the field of taxation law. He has lectured in tax law including seminars presented in connection with Simon Fraser University, The University of British Columbia, Insight, The Canadian Insitute, and the Canadian Tax Foundation.
By 2001 most of Merrill's practice became devoted to aboriginal communities with respect to tax, trust and other structuring issues related to their community assets. During this time, Merrill became the senior member of the Vancouver Tax Group of the law firm of Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP.
Aboriginal Law Experience
Merrill Shepard's aboriginal law work includes the following:
- Provided tax and structuring advice on joint ventures involving First Nations. These structures allowed income to flow out to First Nations tax-free, while at the same time providing limited liability and shared management. They involved a driving range, the development of residential real estate, a co-generation project, a fishing lodge, a major pipeline and a casino.
- Provided tax and structuring advice for a supermarket joint venture on reserve lands. The structure involved a lease of reserve lands to a corporation held in trust for the First Nation which in turn subleased to the supermarket operator.
- Provided tax and structuring advice for a sawmill joint venture involving a First Nation not-for-profit corporation.
- Provided advice on limited partnerships and trust structures for recreational development on reserve land.
- Provided advice on structuring for the receipt and administration of settlement funds and the general implementation of settlement agreements including issues related to enrolment and other processes for obtaining the benefit of those agreements and the ongoing administration of trusts and corporations involved in those structures.
- Drafted and revised access and benefit agreements with respect to mining and oil and gas exploration.
- Advised with respect to the establishment and administration of community corporations.
- Advised with respect to process required for a First Nation to enter into contracts.
Professional Memberships
- Member, Law Society of the Northwest Territories
- Member, Executive of the Aboriginal Section of the Canadian Bar Association, B.C. Branch
- Member, Canadian Tax Foundation
- Director, Canadian Mental Health Association, Vancouver-Burnaby Branch
Education
- Bachelor of Laws: Queen's University, Graduated 1967
- Bachelor of Arts: York University, Graduated 1964
Publications
- Building Commercial Relationships in Harmony with Indigenous Laws, Canadian Bar Association (March 2005).
- Recent Developments and Structures for Using Tax Exemptions in Aboriginal Businesses, Insight Information Co. (June 2004).
- Twelve Years of Implementing the Sahtu Dene and Metis Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement, Consilium Conference on Redefining Relationships: Learning from a Decade of Land Claims Implementation (November 2003).
- Managing Aboriginal Community Assets: Structuring for the Tax Exemption, Continuing Legal Education of BC (October 2002) (with Marie-Sophie Poulin).