Summary

Keywords

None.

Summary

Case summaries are prepared by the Office of the Registrar of the Supreme Court of Canada (Law Branch). Please note that summaries are not provided to the Judges of the Court. They are placed on the Court file and website for information purposes only.

Aboriginal law - Aboriginal title - Manner in which courts must proceed to identify “definite tracts of land” to which Aboriginal title applies - Whether the Court of Appeal erred by creating a new test that restricts all Aboriginal title claims to particular sites - Whether the Forest Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 157, provides statutory authority to manage and dispose of timber assets on Aboriginal title lands - Whether the Forest Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 157, or the Forest Practices Code of British Columbia Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 159, or their predecessor legislation, are constitutionally inapplicable in whole or in part to Tsilhqot’in Aboriginal title lands, in view of Parliament’s exclusive legislative authority set out in s. 91(24) of the Constitution Act, 1867 - Whether the Forest Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 157, or the Forest Practices Code of British Columbia Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 159, or their predecessor legislation, are constitutionally inapplicable in whole or in part to Tsilhqot’in Aboriginal title lands to the extent that they authorize unjustified infringements of Tsilhqot’in Aboriginal title, by virtue of ss. 35(1) and 52 of the Constitution Act, 1982.

Roger William is the former chief of the Xeni Gwet’in First Nation. On behalf of the Xeni Gwet’in First Nations Government and all Tsilhqot’in people, he filed a claim seeking, among other things, recognition of Aboriginal title to two tracts of land in the Tsilhqot’in traditional territory. The tracts of land are located in a remote part of the Chilcotin region of central British Columbia and consist mainly of undeveloped land.

Lower Court Rulings