Lionel Chartrand Biography

Mr. Chartrand practiced in Northern Manitoba for 11 years, returning to Winnipeg in 1995 where he practiced until 2008 when he moved to Alberta working for Alberta Justice as a Crown Prosecutor for four years. In August 2012, Mr. Chartrand resurrected “Chartrand Law Office” and has operated a small law firm in Edmonton since then.

Mr. Chartrand has practiced criminal law for 39 years and has taken constitutional and Aboriginal rights cases for argument in the Supreme Court of Canada on four occasions. Mr. Chartrand has argued numerous appeals both in the Court of Queen’s Bench and before Courts of Appeal, both in Manitoba and in Alberta, including the Federal Court Trial Division and the Federal Court of Appeal.

In addition to spending 35 years defending people accused of crimes, Mr. Chartrand served as a Senior Crown Prosecutor in Alberta for 4 years and in 2023 was appointed a Provincial Court Judge, a position that he declined in favour of continuing his passion for defending the wrongfully accused and those needing a strong voice in defending themselves from a system often stacked against persons targeted by the power of the state.