Delgamuukw Decision Will Create BC-style Aboriginal Land Claims across Canada

Contact:

Owen Lippert, Director, Law and Markets Project
The Fraser Institute, (613) 565-0468,

Release Date: 8 August 2000

OTTAWA,ON>>>Alberta, Northern Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritimes should all expect to see British Columbia-style Aboriginal land claims in the very near future as a result of the Supreme Court of Canada's 1997 Delgamuukw decision. That is one of major conclusions of the Fraser Institute's latest book, Beyond the Nass Valley: National Implications of the Supreme Court's Delgamuukw Decision, released today.

The new book, edited by Owen Lippert, Director of the Institute's Law and Markets Project, brings together native and non-native lawyers, economists, and researchers who wrote on the impact of the Delgamuukw decision across the country and have contributed their understanding of the implications of this landmark decision.

"The case originated in British Columbia, but will soon influence the ownership and use of land, economic development, governance, and social relations in every province," says Lippert, summarising the papers presented at two conferences, one in Vancouver in July 1998, and the other in Ottawa in April 1999. Beyond the Nass Valley contains all thirty papers and provides the only full and thorough treatment of the decision.

Top legal and political scholars, along with prominent native leaders, looked at how the case may help or hurt the resolution of the land claims process - and more importantly - at what cost. Chapters range from a detailed legal history of Aboriginal title and its constitutional implications through to discussions of the decision's economic impact, and provides a wide spectrum of views and opinions.

The Supreme Court of Canada judgement hangs like a very large, undefined cloud over title to land and resources in British Columbia, and - increasingly - over aboriginal law across the country. Two weeks ago it was cited by a British Columbia judge as part of the justification for a finding of a form of residual Aboriginal sovereignty approximating a third order of government.

For legal practitioners, natural resource companies, policy-makers, professors, students and the engaged public, this book is an invaluable resource and reference tool.

Contributors include:

• Satsan (Herb George), a Wet'suwet'en Hereditary Chief, and Vice-Chief for the BC region of the Assembly of First Nations.
• Tom Flanagan, Professor of Political Science at the University of Calgary, and noted author on Aboriginal issues, his most recent book is First Nations Second Thoughts?
• Brian Slattery, Professor of Law at Osgoode Hall Law School, specializing in Constitutional Law and Indigenous Rights.
• Gordon Gibson, Senior Fellow in Canadian Studies at The Fraser Institute, noted constitutional adviser, former MLA, and Assistant to the Prime Minister (1968-72).
• Darrel Bricker, Executive Vice President, Angus Reid Worldwide.
• Michael J. McDonald, member of the Peguis First Nation, and co-chair of Fraser Milner Casgrain's Aboriginal Practice Group in the firm's Vancouver office.
• Melvin H. Smith, QC, the former ranking official on constitutional and constitutional reform issues for four successive British Columbia provincial administrations, and author of the Canadian best seller, Our Home or Native Land?
• Jack Woodward, the author of Native Law, and a leading legal authority on Aboriginal rights in Canada.
• Clauda Bachand, MP, has represented the riding of Saint-Jean, Québec, since 1993, and is currently the Bloc Québécois' Indian Affairs and Northern Development Critic.
• Patrick Monahan, has written extensively on constitutional issues relating to aboriginal rights, and is a Professor of Law at Osgoode Hall Law School, and an Affiliated Scholar at the Toronto law firm of Davies, Ward & Beck.
• Bud Smith, QC, is the former Regional Economic Development Minister, and Attorney General of British Columbia.
• Sákéj (James Youngblood Henderson), is Research Director of the Native Law Centre, and has served as constitutional advisor to the Mikmaq Nation, and the Assembly of First Nations.

Established in 1974, The Fraser Institute is an independent public policy organization based in Vancouver.

For further information contact:

Suzanne Walters, Director of Communications,
The Fraser Institute, (604) 714-4582,
Email suzannew@fraserinstitute.ca

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