Good News Happens

Having reported previously on unsettling events regarding private property vs indigenous title claims, it is only fair that I report when something sensible happens, too. This is from a story in the Globe titled ‘Supreme Court won’t hear First Nations’ appeal in New Brunswick private land case’

That almost tells the story, but there are implications, as the article notes. According to the article, a New Brunswick Appeal Court judge said in December that a declaration of Aboriginal title over privately owned lands “would sound the death knell of reconciliation with the interests of non-Aboriginal Canadians.”

That is one crappy sentence from that judge, but the upshot is that he refused to rule that the Wolastoqey First Nation had rights to property in New Brunswick to which non-tribe members currently held private title. The Wolastoqey appealed to have this NB decision reviewed by the Supreme Court of Canada, and it has refused to hear the appeal, meaning the ruling stands. There is no higher court to which the Wolastoqey can appeal.

Not surprisingly, the folks out in BC who are planning to appeal the Cowichan Tribes decision that I (and plenty of others) wrote about previously are very interested. That decision asserted that the First Nation holds Aboriginal title over a parcel of land on the Fraser River, which includes Crown, city and private property.

The SCC’s refusal to reverse or even hear the NB case sets a precedent those appealing the Cowichan decision can use. Or so my non-lawyerly mind understands the matter.

A final quote from the Globe article:

The Cowichan ruling has led to concerns that it puts private property at risk, although the Cowichan Tribes have said they are not seeking to lay claim to private land.

Ok…..what exactly are you Cowichan folks trying to do, then? Cuz I see no other reason to have brought that case.