Christine Van Geyn: Do Indigenous Canadians not deserve charter protections? – National Post

Feb 09, 2023

Supreme Court case could have far-reaching implications

On Feb. 7, 2023, the Supreme Court of Canada heard the case of Cindy Dickson v. Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation (Yukon Territory). This landmark case addressed the scope of Section 25 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and how this provision’s guarantee of rights for Indigenous people interacts with the charter.

Section 25 of the charter has received very little judicial interpretation, and this case presents an excellent opportunity for the court to clarify the scope of these Indigenous rights guarantees and how they interact with the other rights guaranteed by the charter. Section 25 provides that “(t)he guarantee in this charter of certain rights and freedoms shall not be construed so as to abrogate or derogate from any Aboriginal, treaty or other rights or freedoms that pertain to the Aboriginal Peoples of Canada.”

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