Tsilhqot’in ‘a sort of peak’ – Prince George Citizen

June 24, 2015

Litigious First Nations may think they are on an unstoppable roll, and many other Canadians may agree, but neither the track record of court judgments nor the prospects for future legal victories are clear-cut, a new analysis argues.

The Supreme Court of Canada’s groundbreaking Tsilhqot’in decision last year was perhaps “a sort of peak for aboriginal rights claims in the courts,” writes Dwight Newman, a senior fellow at the Ottawa-based Macdonald-Laurier Institute, in a new paper.

As well, while the Tsilhqot’in decision was the first to affirm aboriginal title to traditional territory, it was far less sweeping than is generally assumed, Newman notes.

“Contrary to a lot of sensational commentary about the judgment, the Tsilhqot’in themselves were awarded only 40 per cent of their claim area, which was itself only five per cent of their traditional territory, meaning that the title area (is) two per cent of their traditional territory.”

Read More: http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/opinion/columnists/tsilhqot-in-a-sort-of-peak-1.1979081