Canada’s highest courtroom has unanimously dismissed an attraction from the Saskatchewan authorities regarding a dispute with Métis Nation-Saskatchewan (MN-S) over whether or not the province correctly consulted on a uranium undertaking in northwestern Saskatchewan.
The authorized battle was sparked when NexGen Vitality Ltd., based mostly in Vancouver, utilized to the Authorities of Saskatchewan for permits for a area mineral exploration undertaking in March 2021. The undertaking is positioned close to Patterson Lake, which is about 636 kilometres northwest of Saskatoon.
In keeping with courtroom paperwork, the Saskatchewan authorities and the Métis Nation-Saskatchewan (MN-S) met and mentioned the undertaking, realizing it affected the rights of Métis individuals within the space. Saskatchewan later issued mineral exploration permits to the corporate in July the identical 12 months.
MN-S stated the provincial Ministry of Surroundings did not correctly seek the advice of the nation and sought a judicial overview of the Ministry’s actions. The standards for that overview are what was beneath dispute on the Supreme Courtroom. After Friday’s ruling, that overview will now proceed by way of the courtroom because it was initially filed.
The query earlier than the Supreme Courtroom was whether or not the judicial overview ought to have to contemplate whether or not the province has an obligation to seek the advice of on land that MN-S has beforehand made claims on, even when these declare had been stayed and by no means resolved.
The Saskatchewan authorities argued that as a result of MN-S and the province are already embroiled in a separate case about session on asserted land claims, the judicial overview shouldn’t additionally contemplate that obligation. The province alleged it was an abuse of course of as a result of a number of circumstances could be centred on the identical difficulty.
A full panel of 9 Supreme Courtroom judges heard the case in November 2024. Of their determination, issued Friday, Justice Malcolm Rowe wrote that having two or extra ongoing authorized circumstances that contain comparable points doesn’t essentially meet the bar for an abuse of course of.
The Supreme Courtroom determination stated there’s a potential that two of the circumstances introduced ahead by MN-S might conclude with totally different rulings on the province’s obligation to seek the advice of, however that it might be addressed by way of case administration.
Rowe additionally wrote that Indigenous litigants could be at fault for an abuse of course of, however authorized circumstances about vindicating Aboriginal rights should be approached inside its “distinctive context.”
“Courtroom procedures ought to facilitate, not impede, the simply decision of Aboriginal claims,” the choice learn, partially.
Whereas talking at a information convention Friday, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe stated the required engagement must occur with Indigenous communities and Indigenous individuals.
“I believe we have come a good distance in that area, however there’s at all times extra work to do. So we decide to doing that and dealing alongside [MN-S] President McCallum, whom I discuss to usually,” he stated.
Arriving on the Supreme Courtroom
Saskatchewan has a coverage stating it doesn’t seek the advice of on asserted land claims. Saskatchewan agrees that the Métis individuals have rights to hunt, lure and fish for meals on the land, which led to the session, however argues the MN-S doesn’t have industrial rights to the land.
A decide on the Courtroom of Queen’s Bench (now referred to as Courtroom of King’s Bench) sided with the Saskatchewan authorities in its decision, however that decision was overturned by the Saskatchewan Courtroom of Attraction.
The Supreme Courtroom of Canada granted the provincial authorities a depart to attraction the case in December 2023 and the case was heard in November 2024.
MN-S says it isn’t in search of to show its land declare, however that the judicial overview ought to nonetheless have a look at whether or not the province did not seek the advice of on the land MN-S sought to say. A landmark ruling in 2004 discovered that governments have a legal duty to consult Aboriginal communities, even when a land declare is unproven.
The Saskatchewan authorities is arguing to the Supreme Courtroom that the MN-S is bringing a number of actions towards the federal government about the identical authorized difficulty, calling it an abuse of course of.
MN-S disagrees, arguing the judicial overview is distinct from previous circumstances.
Within the background
In 1994, MN-S introduced an announcement of declare towards Saskatchewan and Canada, in search of rights to “massive areas” of the province, in accordance with courtroom paperwork. These lands embrace the place the place NexGen utilized to discover.
That motion was stayed in 2005 due to a dispute about doc disclosure. The decide stated MN-S might carry the keep sooner or later, however MN-S has not utilized to take action.
In 2020, MN-S challenged a government policy from 2010 that, in accordance with courtroom paperwork, “reiterated that claims to Aboriginal title and industrial rights wouldn’t be ‘accepted’ by the provincial authorities,” and wouldn’t be topic to the Crown’s obligation to seek the advice of. That case remains to be ongoing.
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