There’s some pretty shocking figures discovered by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation as to the salaries some chiefs make. If they’re true, it’s pretty disgraceful. It will be interesting to see what the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) will do about it, if anything, considering it’s an entity made up entirely of chiefs from across Canada.
Author: Peter Scott Vicaire
Supreme Court of Canada – Beckman v. Little Salmon/Carmacks First Nation – Duty to Consult Doctrine Met by the Crown
Hot off the presses! And the Canadian Supreme Court hits keep on coming.
This case, released just today, discusses important questions about the duty to consult and the interpretation/implementation of modern comprehensive land claims treaties between the Crown and First Nations.
Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench Has Authority to Make Métis Candidacy Eligibility Determination Prior to Election
Here’s the decision. East Prairie Métis Settlement v. Aiken. And here’s an excerpt…
Robertson v. Canada – Tax Court of Canada Allows Aboriginal Appeal
Interesting case (as far as tax cases can be) out of the Tax Court of Canada – Robertson v. Canada, [2010] T.C.J. No. 432. Two Aboriginal appellants from Norway House First Nation were allowed to maintain their tax exemption in light of the “commercial mainstream” test when they sold their catch through their Aboriginal co-op to a non-Aboriginal, commercial entity (Freshwater Fish Marketing Corp.).
“It has been established on the evidence, that taxing the Appellants would be an erosion of an important economic base that goes far beyond the emergence of an income source brought to the reserve by the outside world of commerce. It is a source that was always there and its present connections are not trappings. The connections to the reserve are genuine and historically based. As such, the subject income warrants protection from diminution by taxation.”
R. v. Morris – B.C. Provincial Court Rejects Treaty and Aboriginal Rights Claims as well as Kinship Reciprocity and Sheltering Defenses
Here’s the decision, which provides a useful breakdown of interpreting aboriginal and treaty rights, kinship reciprocity and sheltering defenses.
It’s been a long time coming, with the events in question having occurred during the Winter of 2001/2002 and after the death of one of the defendants.
Canada endorses the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. And itself.
Wow. Big news out of Canada. Or is it? On November 12th, the Government of Canada formally endorsed the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Here’s the official declaration, as given by Canada’s Ambassador to the United Nations, John McNee, to the President of the UN General Assembly, Joseph Deiss.
Call me a skeptic, call me a cynic, but something just doesn’t feel right with Prime Minister Harper’s perfect 180 degree half-pirouette on this issue.
Former AIM member pleads guilty to accessory in Anna Mae Aquash (Mi’kmaq) 1975 murder – given suspended sentence
Rapid City Journal – November 8, 2010
Thelma Rios pleaded guilty Monday to being an accessory to the 1975 kidnapping of American Indian Movement activist Annie Mae Aquash, three weeks before she was scheduled to go on trial on charges related to Aquash’s murder.
Supreme Court of Canada: An Indian child welfare agency providing services solely to Indian children does not fall within the protected “core of Indianness.”
Late last week, the Supreme Court of Canada released its decision concerning the intersection of Indian child welfare and labor law. Here’s the decision. NIL TU,O Child and Family Services Society v. B.C. Government and Service Employees’ Union, [2010] S.C.J. No. 45.
Aboriginal Peoples Music Choice Awards
The 2010 Aboriginal Peoples Choice Music Awards will be broadcast live on APTN (Aboriginal Peoples Television Network) on Friday, November 5th at 8:00pm CST.
Supreme Court (Canada) – Determining the Adequacy of “Duty to Consult” Doctrine is Within the Purview of Provincial Administrative Tribunals
Last week (Oct. 28), the Supreme Court of Canada, in Rio Tinto Alcan Inc. v. Carrier Sekani Tribal Council, fine-tuned the “duty to consult” doctrine. That doctrine mandates that governments making decisions which may have an impact on Aboriginal or treaty rights have a duty to consult the potentially affected First Nations – even before final proof of the rights in court or ultimate settlement on the rights in negotiation processes. Here’s a good (2009) summary of the doctrine. Duty to Consult
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