New reading on aboriginal title seen as changing power balance

The Supreme Court’s expansive view of aboriginal title has empowered aboriginals across the country, says the Tsilhqot’in Nation’s lead counsel who won the watershed judgment.

Rejecting the narrow approach urged by the federal and B.C. Crowns, the top court ruled 8-0 on June 26 that aboriginal title, on the ground, “is not site-specific; it’s territorial,” said Vancouver’s David Rosenberg. 

The Tsilhqot’in Nation won Supreme Court recognition for their title claim to 2,000 square kilometres of their traditional lands in the B.C. interior. 

Their victory cost tens of millions in legal fees, including a five-year trial which culminated in their title being recognized, followed by the B.C. Court of Appeal’s decision which held that aboriginal title encompasses specific sites but not the larger tracts of lands First Nations used and exclusively occupied. The Supreme Court’s rejection of that approach “is revelatory,” Rosenberg said.

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