Supreme Court of Canada to decide whether to hear B.C. appeal in mineral claims case

The Supreme Court of Canada is expected to say Thursday whether it will hear British Columbia’s appeal of a ruling that found the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the provincial mineral claims regime are “inconsistent.”

The B.C. Court of Appeal ruled in December that the provincial Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act should be “properly interpreted” to incorporate UNDRIP into the laws of B.C. with immediate legal effect.

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At the time, a statement from the Gitxaala Nation, one of two nations challenging the law, called the decision precedent-setting.

The nation, along with the Ehattesaht First Nation, argued that the operation of an automated online registry permitting “free miners” to register claims to mineral rights on Crown land before consulting affected First Nations was inconsistent with the Crown’s duty to consult.

The provincial government passed the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act into law in November 2019.

The government said that act establishes the UN declaration as B.C.’s “framework for reconciliation.”