Case information

Aboriginal law — Aboriginal title — Aboriginal rights — Treaty rights — Aboriginal group advancing rights and title claims against Crown — Second group seeking to join action as defendant, given its modern treaty governing rights in overlapping territory — Case management judge declining to add second group as defendant in first group’s action — Court of Appeal upholding case management judge’s order — What is potential effect of declaration of Aboriginal title in favour of Indigenous claimant in respect of lands over which different Indigenous nation has existing section 35 rights under modern treaty, including modified Aboriginal title? — Did courts below incorrectly interpret Nisga’a Treaty by ruling that Treaty Party Provisions were not engaged in action and would not become operative until only after Plaintiffs established Aboriginal title within Claimed Lands? — Did courts below err in concluding that, while tests for joinder under Rule 6-2(7) of Supreme Court Civil Rules are met in respect of competing assertion of Aboriginal title, same tests are not met in respect of competing Aboriginal title and other rights that are recognized under modern treaty? — Nisg_a’a Final Agreement Act, S.C., 2000, c. 7, ss. 3, 4, 5, 20 — Nisg_a’a Final Agreement Act, R.S.B.C. 1999, c. 2, ss. 2, 3, 5, 8 — Supreme Court Civil Rules, B.C. Reg. 168/2009, r. 6-2(7).

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.

The respondent Gitanyow Nation asserts Aboriginal rights and title over certain lands in British Columbia, and has advanced claims against the federal and provincial Crown. Another Aboriginal group with a modern treaty covering an overlapping geographic area, the appellant, the Nisga’a Nation, sought to be added as a defendant in the Gitanyow action.

A case management judge at the Supreme Court of British Columbia dismissed the Nisga’a Nation’s application to be added as a defendant. A unanimous panel of the Court of Appeal dismissed the Nisga’a Nation’s appeal from the first decision.