LEANNE DRAGON*

Bachelor of Arts (French Language & Literature), University of Alberta (1994)
Bachelor of Laws, University of Alberta (1997)
Licensed to practise in the NWT & Nunavut

Originally from Saskatchewan, I moved to Edmonton for my university years. Having spent three summers working in Yellowknife and newly married to a third generation Northerner, I made one of the best decisions of my life and moved to the Northwest Territories. Like so many others, what was originally just a one-year plan has since turned into almost twenty.

I was fortunate to have the opportunity to article and then have a 12-year practice with Peterson, Stang & Malakoe, a firm which had a long and proud history in the North. Dragon Toner opened its doors in 2010 and is well on its way to creating its own Northern legacy. I am proud of the team we have assembled and the quality service that we provide to clients throughout the NWT and Nunavut. Throughout my legal career, my main focus has been in the areas of real estate and estate planning.

I have served on the Executive of the Law Society of the NWT and spent four years on the Board of the Yellowknife Playschool Association. My volunteer work has also extended to the Girl Guides of Canada and the Canadian Cancer Society. I am currently Chairperson of the Parents’ Advisory Committee at the local middle school.

I am grateful that my job has enabled me to work with and provide help to hundreds (if not thousands) of the great people of the North, both those who have always called this place home and those who, like me, have chosen to create their roots here. A Prairie girl no longer, I am a very proud Northerner, looking forward to many more years of serving clients and contributing to our community.

* Operating as Leanne Dragon Law Professional Corporation

SHELDON TONER*

Bachelor of Arts (Philosophy), McGill University (1992)
Bachelor of Laws, University of Victoria (1996)
Licensed to practise in the NWT & Nunavut

The North can offer exciting opportunities for any lawyer seeking adventure. I came to Yellowknife as a student-at-law, hoping to see interesting places and work on interesting cases. My expectations have been met and exceeded.

I started with Phillips and Wright, a small firm then situated on the 11th floor of the Precambrian Building in Yellowknife. There I received an initiation in family and criminal law, as well as civil litigation and administrative law. My former principal, Adrian Wright, continues to be a mentor. We are both current members of the Northwest Territories Human Rights Adjudication Panel.

In 2000, shortly after the division of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, I went to work for the Government of the Northwest Territories. This gave me experience in administrative law, including judicial reviews and grievance arbitrations. I witnessed land claim and self-government negotiations, and participated in the Joint Review Panel hearings for the Mackenzie Gas Project.

When I started Dragon Toner, along with Leanne Dragon in 2010, I believed the time was right for a new local firm. I have been encouraged by the steady growth our firm has experienced ever since. We have attracted excellent lawyers, so that we now have a fantastic team to deliver quality services in many areas.

I continue to enjoy the varied practice that has taken me across the North. In recent years, my practice has focused on workplace and human rights disputes, as well as Coroner’s inquests. I have been an advocate and an investigator, a mediator and an adjudicator. I am increasingly interested in applying interest-based and restorative approaches to dispute resolution.

* Operating as Sheldon Toner Law Professional Corporation

CAROLINE WAWZONEK

Bachelor of Arts (Law and Society), University of Calgary (2000)
Juris Doctor, University of Toronto Faculty of Law (2005)
Licensed to practise in the NWT & Nunavut

I love helping people and I enjoy solving problems so being a lawyer is a natural fit.

My legal career started with Clayton Ruby and Marlys Edwardh in Toronto. I worked with Clayton to successfully challenge unconstitutional Ontario legislation. With Marlys, I was part of the team that successfully fought to overturn Steven Truscott’s notorious wrongful conviction for murder.

In 2007, my husband and I took an opportunity for a year of adventure in Yellowknife. Long summer nights of canoeing and the warm social scene through the winters soon had us hooked.

Ten years later we are raising our two children in Yellowknife and look forward to the opportunities the North has to offer them.

After five years running my own criminal defence practice in Yellowknife, I was excited to become part of a team and the collegial atmosphere of Dragon Toner was the perfect place to expand my practice to civil and administrative litigation.

I am a proud Yellowknifer and look for opportunities to be involved in my community. I am a board member of the YWCA NWT and past board member of the Yellowknife Montessori Society. I have served as the President of the Law Society of the Northwest Territories and as Chair of different sections of the NWT Branch of the Canadian Bar Association. I am often called on as a media commentator and speaker on issues of public legal education. I am a contributor to Law Now Magazine.