Toby Kruger,

Toby represents a range of public and private companies across the Northern territories in a range of regulatory matters and litigation. He frequently acts on behalf of stakeholders in mining operations, and provides further counsel on environmental issues and Aboriginal law.

- Chambers Canada, 2021 Guide

Toby advises private and public sector clients on litigation and regulatory matters. He provides advice on environmental, energy, mining, land, construction, public utility, administrative law, and Indigenous law issues. Toby also has an interest in defamation law, in that it poses a limitation on freedom of speech. Toby has appeared as counsel before various administrative tribunals, superior courts, appellate courts, and three times before the Supreme Court of Canada. Based in Yellowknife, Toby advises clients throughout western Canada and the North, including all three Territories. 

Toby also maintains an active parliamentary law practice, serving as Law Clerk to the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories and providing ad-hoc advice to legislatures across Canada.

Prior to joining Lawson Lundell LLP, Toby clerked at the British Columbia Supreme Court. Toby practiced in the Vancouver office of Lawson Lundell before moving to Yellowknife in 2014.

Toby is also a regular contributor to the Project Law Blog and the North of 60 Blog, resources that provide updates on developments in law and policy relating to the development of major projects in Canada and legal developments in the North. Toby was also appointed by the Law Society of NWT to sit on the NWT Supreme Court Rules modernization steering committee.  

Toby was named a Lexpert Rising Star in 2021 for leading lawyers under 40 in Canada, and is recognised by Chambers Canada for General Business Law in Northern Canada and Arctic, and by the Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory as a leading practitioner for Litigation - Regulatory & Public Law.

He likes to spend as much of his spare time as possible with his two young kids at his cabin and mining claim outside Yellowknife.

• Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories Rules Committee, Member
• Association of Parliamentary Counsel in Canada, President
• NWT Art Centre Initiative, President
• Law Society of Northwest Territories, Admissions Committee & Discipline Committee

• Chambers Canada:
  • General Business Law - Northern Canada and Arctic (Band 1), 2025
  • General Business Law - Northern Canada and Arctic (Band 2), 2024
• Best Lawyers in Canada: Administrative and Public Law, 2023-2025
• Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory: Litigation - Regulatory & Public Law (Leading Practitioner), 2023-2024
• Lexpert Rising Star Award: Canada's Leading Lawyers Under 40, 2021
• Benchmark Litigation Canada Awards: Impact Case Award for TransAlta Generation Partnership v Balancing Pool, 2020

• Represented a project proponent in dismissing an application for judicial review challenging the issuance of a water licence. (Gwich’in Tribal Council v KBL Environmental Ltd et al, 2024 NWTSC 37). 
• Represented the Court-appointed Receiver over several First Nation-owned companies in oppression proceedings brought by the First Nation against a former CEO for various self-dealing transactions. (Marlowe et al v Barlas et al, 2024 NWTSC 38).
• Jointly represented Ventura Stanton Inc. and CANA Management Limited. in successfully discharging a lien filed by a subcontractor on the old Stanton Territorial Hospital (CANA Management Limited v. SMI Construction Ltd., 2023 NWTSC 7).
• Obtaining an injunction for Baffinland Iron Mines Corporation to remove a blockade obstructing its operations at the Mary River site on northern Baffin Island (Baffinland Iron Mines Corporation v Inuavak et al, 2021 NUCJ 11, upheld 2023 NUCA 10).
• Represented the Mayor of the Town of Norman Wells and others in successfully dismissing a multimillion dollar defamation claim brought against them by a former Town manager (Mallon v Norman Wells (Town) et al, 2021 NWTSC 37).
• Represented the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers in the Supreme Court of Canada, where the Province of British Columbia sought an opinion on the constitutionality of a scheme that require provincial permits for the possession of additional volumes of “heavy oil” in the Province (Reference re Environmental Management Act, 2020 SCC 1).
• Successfully representing a major utility in a $60M arbitration claim against a statutory body regarding payments for retiring coal-fired electricity generating units in Alberta (Confidential client).
• Represented the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers in the Supreme Court of Canada in Redwater, a major case dealing with the intersection of bankruptcy and environmental law in the oil and gas context (Orphan Well Association v. Grant Thornton Ltd., 2019 SCC 5).
• Defended a major commercial landlord in a lease dispute that threatened to derail a significant transaction that was scheduled to close shortly. Successfully dismissed the claim after trial within only 5 weeks of being served (Waters et. al. v. NPR, 2017 NUCJ 12, affirmed 2018 NUCA 1).
• Successfully defended the Canada Energy Regulator (formerly National Energy Board) at the Alberta Court of Appeal in a case brought by Geophysical Services Incorporated alleging the NEB's disclosure to the public of seismic data collected in Canada's north and offshore was a violation of the Copyright Act. The Court unanimously agreed with the NEB's position. (Geophysical Service Incorporated v EnCana Corporation, 2017 ABCA 125, leave to appeal to Supreme Court of Canada denied).

• Successfully represented owner of a mine in defending a high profile appeal to the Development Appeal Board regarding closure and reclamation work to be done at a former mine site (Unreported, 2016, Yellowknife Development Appeal Board)

• Represented BC Hydro in the successful defence of a proposed class action concerning the alleged impacts of exposure to emissions generated from smart meters on BC Hydro’s 1.9 million residential and commercial customers (Davis v. British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority, 2016 BCSC 1287)

• Successfully brought an injunction on behalf of an employer to restrain a former employee from breaching non-solicit and non-competition obligations in an employment agreement, KBL Environmental Ltd. v. Ehizojie (Unreported, 2016, Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench)

• Co-counsel to Chevron Canada Limited (a refinery operator) and Chevron Canada Resources (a producer and pipeline shipper) in a pipeline transaction tariff hearing before the Canada Energy Regulator (formerly National Energy Board) regarding allocation of pipeline capacity on the TransMountain Pipeline. Application for approval of Tariff Amendments regarding Verification Procedures, RWH-001-2013.

• Successfully defended an application brought by a former spouse against a pension administrator for an interest in the former spouse’s pension plan (Fricker v. British Columbia Pension Corporation, 2014 BCSC 1729)

• Represented 2274659 Ontario Inc. in an application for party status by a First Nation in a surface rights dispute (2274659 Ontario Inc v Canada Chrome Corporation, Ontario Mining and Lands Commissioner, 2012)

• Represented the BC Civil Liberties Association before the Supreme Court of Canada in opposing a publication ban over allegedly defamatory speech (AB v Bragg Communications Inc., 2012 SCC 46)

• Successfully upheld a freezing order issued by the Securities Commission against persons being investigated for a Ponzi scheme,(Zhu v British Columbia (Securities Commission), 2013 BCCA 248)