Delgamuukw v. British Columbia

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Delgamuukw v. British Columbia

Hearing: June 16, 17, 1997
Judgment: December 11, 1997


Full case name:	Delgamuukw, also known as Earl Muldoe, suing on his own behalf and on behalf of all the members of the Houses of Delgamuukw and Haaxw (and others) v. Her Majesty The Queen in Right of the Province of British Columbia and The Attorney General of Canada
Citations:	[1997] 3 S.C.R. 1010
Ruling:	Appeal allowed in part, cross appeal dismissed.

Court membership

Chief Justice: Antonio Lamer
Puisne Justices: Gérard La Forest, Claire L'Heureux-Dubé, John Sopinka, Charles Gonthier, Peter Cory, Beverley McLachlin, Frank Iacobucci, John C. Major

Reasons given

Majority by: Lamer C.J.
Joined by: Cory and Major J.
Concurrence/dissent by: McLachlin J.
Concurrence/dissent by: La Forest J.
Joined by: L'Heureux-Dube J.
Iacobucci, Gonthier, and Sopinka JJ. took no part in the consideration or decision of the case.

Delgamuukw v. British Columbia [1997] 3 S.C.R. 1010 is a famous leading decision of the Supreme Court of Canada where the Court made its most definitive statement on the nature of Aboriginal title in Canada.

1 Court Proceedings
2 Provincial Government Position
3 Supreme Court Ruling
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Court Proceedings

The proceedings were started in 1984 by the Gitxsan Nation and the Wet'suwet'en Nation. They bypassed the slow Federal Land Claims process in which the British Columbia Provincial Government would not participate.

They claimed ownership and legal jurisdiction over 133 individual territories, a total of 58,000 square kilometres of northwestern British Columbia, an area larger than the province of Nova Scotia.

[edit] Provincial Government Position

The Province insisted that all First Nations land rights in British Columbia were extinguished by the colonial government before it became part of Canada in 1871. (In the Court of Appeal, the Province changed its position to argue that aboriginal land rights had not been extinguished.)

[edit] Supreme Court Ruling

The Supreme Court made no decision on the land dispute, insisting that another trial was necessary. For the first time, however, the Court directly addressed the issue of Aboriginal title.

Aboriginal title is different from land usage rights, as it acknowledges Indigenous ownership of the land and the right to use in ways it had not been used traditionally. On the other hand, it is different from common land ownership, in that it is a Constitional communal right deeply linked to Indigenous culture. Land governed by Aboriginal title can only be sold to the Federal Government, not to private buyers. The ruling also made important statements about the legitimacy of Indigenous oral history.