UNDRIP in BC Law: Insights from BC Court of Appeal Decision in Gitxaala v British Columbia – Woodward & Company LLP
Jan 6, 2026
On December 5, 2025, the BC Court of Appeal released its decision in Gitxaala v. British Columbia, 2025 BCCA 430. In this significant legal decision, the majority:
- rejected the lower court’s 2023 narrow interpretation of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (the Declaration Act) and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP),
- found that the Declaration Act incorporates UNDRIP into the positive law of BC with immediate legal effect,[1] and
held that UNDRIP serves as an interpretive lens and sets minimum standards for the consistency of BC laws, although it does not itself create new substantive rights. [2]
