Taseko Mine Not In Land Claim Area
Williams Lake-The Vice President of Corporate Affairs for Taseko Mines, Brian Battison, says his company is not part of the land claims settlement in the area west of Williams Lake.
The Supreme Court of Canada today granted declaration of aboriginal title to more than 1,700 square kilometers of land in British Columbia to the Tsilhqot'in First Nation, in the area west of Williams Lake , the first time the court has made such a ruling .
The unanimous 8-0 decision , written by Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin resolves many important legal questions, such as how to determine aboriginal title, and whether provincial laws apply to those lands. The decision says it will apply wherever there are outstanding land claims.
The decision also has implications for future economic, or resource development, on First Nations lands.
The case focused on the Tsilhqot'in First Nation's claim to aboriginal title over 440,000 hectares of land .
Battison says" Fish Lake, the area in which Taseko has proposed to build their mine, is outside of the title area, which confirms what we have been saying".
Battison says, the Taseko mine is the only mine in BC were aboriginal title does not exist.
Comments
This should be interesting.
The thinking of the Federal Government would be, here this is your land. there will be no additional claims of this being your land. Meaning, Taseko Mines will not be hampered.
Did I just hear Enbridge and the Province of Alberta gasping?
http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Landmark+Supreme+Court+ruling+grants+land+title+First+Nation/9970838/story.html
If they make revenue off this land will payments to this band be reduced?
The proposed Prosperity mine is outside the title area, but the existence of other aboriginal rights at the mine site has not been affected by the supreme court ruling. This decision doesn’t change anything for Taseko.
There are likely to be many other First Nations who will establish title to parts of their traditional territory, and the decision will affect everyone who uses Crown land in BC.
The obvious questions are about impacts on forestry and pipelines, but people who hold grazing rights, traplines or guiding territories, or even hunting or fishing licences may be affected down the road.
It will be interesting to see if the natural resource industries proceed with previously-announced major capital expenditures or move their investment to areas where there is a more favourable business environment.
Unintended consequences of this decision will be interesting!
The court in their ruling made very clear economic development can continue with or without consent however the government must prove its compelling and substantial to the public interest. The ball is in native court do they want to understand the meaning and benefits or only address the part of the ruling they want to hear?
mine, mine, mine, mine, mine.
sounds like a 5 year old kid.
I guess BC will look like the reserve shortly.
This is only the beginning!
“The court in their ruling made very clear economic development can continue with or without consent however the government must prove its compelling and substantial to the public interest”
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And I would fully expect that the courts will ultimately be the ones interpreting whether “compelling and substantial to the public interest” exists for a particular development.
“Compelling”, “substantial” and “public interest” are not exactly clear cut concepts, they are highly open to interpretation and debate. My gut tells me that the bar is going to be INCREDIBLY high if consent is not achieved, likely beyond anything we’ve seen to date.
Posted by: bentely on June 26 2014 6:17 PM
I guess BC will look like the reserve shortly.
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Most of it already does:
blog/view/32309/1/illegal+dumping+plagues+rural+property?id=143&st=15
Which is why I like this decision. Time to close down the reservation system and allow the first nations people to live the way they always have!
All you people who whine about the billions spent on First Nations should be happy now. The First Nations can now go back to hunting and gathering and it won’t cost the rest of you a dime.
This decision could be very good for resource development and first nations.
Now that it is clear they have to do more than just consult, in the words of one chief on the radio today “come to the table” first nations can begin to extract value from these resources, that money in turn will be spent in the community. You can bet Brent Marshall will benefit from this ruling.
Further to that I would rather have the money go to FN than into foreign owned companies dividents, or to the land of Nod (Victoria)
Well I agree with what cupricity said above. This is now a known cost of doing business and no getting around it. I like that it benefits people in our communities and the money from any increased enterprise will be in our economy.
I suspect this common law Supreme Court precedent will be a significant factor in the Northern Gateway proposal as it pertains to native rights. Bella Coola will use this precedence to shut down unrefined tar sands shipments on the BC Coast, and in so they will be doing us all a favor.
My main concern with a ruling like this is how it effects the environment when a band in question decides it doesn’t have to follow provincial environmental protection measures. I would have to read the ruling, but I see the situation as the province still has authority to overrule to protect the other stakeholders in the eco-system including the plants and animals that share this land base, but the native bands have the right to consent to anyone else that wishes to use the land base in harvesting resources.
Also I have a big concern about access to the land for recreational users like the ATV, horse backing, river boating, and snowmobiling public?
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