Editorial: In Tsilhqot’in decision, ‘duty to consult’ becomes ‘requirement for consent’

As everyone involved in natural resource extraction in British Columbia is now well aware, the June 26 decision by the Supreme Court of Canada declaring that the small Tsilhqot’in First Nation holds aboriginal title over 1,750 km2 in...

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As everyone involved in natural resource extraction in British Columbia is now well aware, the June 26 decision by the Supreme Court of Canada declaring that the small Tsilhqot’in First Nation holds aboriginal title over 1,750 km2 in central B.C. is a precedent-setter that effectively remakes the regulatory environment in B.C., and has ramifications across Canada where aboriginal land claims are unsettled.

In the case of Tsilhqot’in Nation v. British Columbia, the vast, sparsely populated stretch of land in question west of Williams Lake is no longer Crown land but title land held communally by the Tsilhqot’in First Nation, which has the right to exclusive use and occupation of the land, and the right to its economic benefits.

For the first time, the decision clarifies how a nomadic or semi-nomadic aboriginal group such as the Tsilhqot’in can establish title to land they occupied before contact with Western colonialists and continue to use to the present day – or "sufficient, continuous and exclusive occupation" in the parlance of the court.

Read the complete story at NorthernMiner.com/news/editorial

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