of the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry which released its findings on May 9, 1977. In 1981 when Canada was debating the merits of a diversity of provisions in the proposed Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Berger wrote an open letter to The Globe and Mail, asserting that the rights of Aboriginal Canadians and women needed to be included in any proposed charter. In 1983 he was reprimanded by the Canadian Judicial Council for this activism. Shortly thereafter he chose to resign as a judge and returned to practice as a lawyer. Berger's expertise and reputation for thorough and independent assessment were immediately seen as an asset for indigenous communities. He was invited by the Inuit Circumpolar Conference to lead the Alaska Native Review Commission (1983–1985) which culminated in the publication of Village Journey (1985). In 1995, Thomas Berger was appointed Special Counsel to the Attorney General of British Columbia to inquire into allegations of sexual abuse at the Jericho Hill School for the Deaf. Berger was asked to investigate these allegations and produce a report. His recommendation for relief and compensation for those who were abused was accepted. Berger was appointed chair of the Vancouver Electoral Reform Commission in 2003. The Commission recommended changing Vancouver's at-large system to a system of ward-level representation. However, this recommendation was defeated in a referendum held on October 16, 2004. Appointed in 2005 as a conciliator to resolve the impasse between Canada, Nunavut, and Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated in implementing the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement, Berger completed "The Nunavut Project" in 2006. His report addresses the fundamental changes needed to implement Article 23 (Inuit Employment within Government) of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement, including the need for a strong indigenous education system. In 2017, Berger was counsel to British Columbia in its challenge to Canada's approval of the Trans Mountain pipeline. Royal commissions Berger chaired a royal commission on Family and Children's Law from 1973 to 1975. He was commissioner of the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry from 1974 to 1977. From 1979 to 1980, he chaired his third royal commission, on Indian and Inuit healthcare. In 1978, Indian bands and organizations such as the Union of B.C. Chiefs, the Native Brotherhood and United Native Nations, engaged in intense lobbying for Indians to control delivery of health services in their own communities and for the repeal of restrictive service "guidelines introduced in September 1978, to