The rocky road to reconciliation : exploring the effects of Aboriginal title jurisprudence on the relationship between First Nations and the Crown in Canada ...

• Main Author: Horrocks-Denis, Émilie
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2013
• Subjects: First Nations
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0074194; https://doi.library.ubc.ca/10.14288/1.0074194

The purpose of this paper is to explore the effects of Aboriginal title jurisprudence on the relationship between First Nations and the Crown in Canada, paying particular attention to the Tsilhqot’in case involving the Tsilhqot’in Nation’s Aboriginal title claim for lands in British Columbia. Findings show that the 2007 British Columbia Supreme Court’s trial judgement in Tsilhqot’in Nation v. British Columbia attempted to improve relations between the Tsilhqot’in and the Crown by placing equal weight on oral history and oral tradition evidence, adopting a broad and flexible standard of occupation, affirming the inapplicability of the Forest Act to Aboriginal title lands, and expressing an opinion on Tsilhqot’in Aboriginal title to facilitate the subsequent process of negotiations. Nonetheless, the trial judgement failed to provide the Tsilhqot’in people with a declaration of Aboriginal title, due to a defect in their pleadings. By contrast, while the 2012 British Columbia Court of Appeal’s decision in ...