Source: Indian and Northern Affairs Canada
The Honourable John Duncan, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians, and Joseph Riche and George Rich, Grand Chief and Deputy Grand Chief of the Innu Nation of Labrador, announced today the signing of a financial agreement. The Government of Canada is currently in land claim negotiations with the Innu of Labrador and the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador.
A 6.2 billion dollar “hydroelectric megaproject” is possibly in danger as the NunatuKavut Community Council says that Nalcor Energy (a Crown corporation) and the province have shirked their duty to consult the group and should compensate it. It claims that their Aboriginal rights will be harmed if the environmental hearings continue.
In Adams Lake Indian Band v. British Columbia (Lieutenant Governor in Council), [2011] B.C.J. No. 363, the British Columbia Supreme Court allowed a petition by the Adams Lake Indian Band, which was resisting the actions of a ski resort seeking status as an incorporated municipality.
The Band claimed that the area in question is part of their traditional territory and that the provincial government failed to adequately consult it about the formation of a new municipality.
The province maintained there was adequate consultation and accommodation of the Band’s concerns and interests. The court disagreed.
In R. v. Cardinal, [2011] A.J. No. 203, members of the Beaver Lake Cree Nation were convicted of selling fish on their reserve without a commercial license. Their convictions were upheld by the Alberta Court of Appeal.
Here’s the decision. An excerpt is below.
A recent appeal by the Nlaka’pamux Nation (in the B.C. Court of Appeal) was upheld because it was determined that British Columba did not adequately meet its duty to consult requirements. The appeal was in regard to the extension of a landfill over land which the First Nation claimed Aboriginal rights and title.
Here’s the decision . Below is an excerpt.
In Louison v. Ochapowace Indian Band #71 , William Louison tried to sue the Ochapowace Indian Band #71, its corporation (312050 Saskatchewan Ltd.) and the province of Saskatchewan – not only in his personal capacity but also “in a representative capacity on behalf of all Indigenous Peoples of Saskatchewan.”
Mr. Louison was living on a certain tract of land which the Ochapowace Band held the only legally recognizable right to and which it was attempting to remove him from. Louison claimed that he was a “North American Indigenous Person” and that the subject lands were settled by his ancestors. He also claimed that the land in question was traditional “Indigenous Peoples lands” and that he had the right to use the land by way of Indigenous Title. Therefore, he refused to give up possession of the land.
Turtle Talk 