Case information

Administrative law — Judicial review — Standard of review — Which standard of review applies to decisions of the Specific Claims Tribunal — Aboriginal law — Fiduciary duty — Surrender of reserve lands — Whether Crown breached fiduciary duty in consenting to surrender of reserve lands — Whether Crown had duty of minimal impairment in relation to surrender of reserve lands

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The applicant First Nation’s reserve lands in northwestern Saskatchewan were set aside in 1905. The Province of Saskatchewan, over the following years, expressed interest in acquiring a portion of these lands (the “Surrender Lands”) several times, but the applicant had always opposed an absolute surrender. In 1959, the applicant’s council met and resolved to propose terms of surrender to Saskatchewan for the Surrender Lands. In 1960, with the Crown’s consent, the applicant First Nation surrendered the Surrender Lands to Saskatchewan in exchange for a larger quantity of lands in a different location, the mineral rights to a portion of those new lands, and $20,000.

The applicant made a claim to the Specific Claims Tribunal, alleging that the surrender was an improvident bargain and that the Crown had breached its fiduciary duty to the applicant by consenting to it and by failing to ensure the minimal impairment of the applicant’s remaining reserve lands.

The Tribunal found that the applicant did not establish a valid claim. The available evidence showed that the total value of the consideration the application received exceeded the value of the Surrender Lands. The bargain was therefore not improvident. The Tribunal further held that the duty of minimal impairment only implies in the context of expropriation; in the context of surrender, it is replaced by a duty to ensure that the surrendering First Nation consents to the surrender. There is no evidence in this case that the applicant did not understand the terms of surrender or validly consent to it.

The Court of Appeal, on an application for judicial review, applied a reasonableness standard by agreement of the parties. It held that the Tribunal’s decision was reasonable and dismissed the application with costs.