Landmark Supreme Court ruling in
Canada:
One more reason the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline
should not proceed over the opposition of First Nations
Dear Tracy,
|
HISTORIC RULING FOR INDIGENOUS RIGHTS IN CANADA
|
 |
THANK
YOU for
supporting our online petition on the proposed Northern
Gateway pipeline.
I wanted to take a moment to share with you a landmark Supreme Court decision that lends
further weight to our position that the Canadian government must not approve a
project of this magnitude against the wishes of affected First Nations.
On June 26, a unanimous decision by the Supreme
Court of Canada found that the Tsilhqot’in people continue to hold legal title
to some 2000km2 in the heart of their traditional territory in central British
Columbia.
It’s hard to overstate the importance of this historic
ruling, both for the Tsilhqot’in people, who first went to court to protect
their land rights more than 20 ago, and for other Indigenous nations across
Canada.
Canadian law has long recognized that lands currently claimed by the
provincial governments may in fact lawfully belong to Indigenous peoples. Until
this point, however, the recognition has been largely abstract and readily
ignored by governments.
The new ruling by the Supreme Court found that the Tsilhqot’in had
proven their ongoing ownership of a large tract of their traditional territory.
The Court also firmly rejected the claim by the federal and provincial
governments that the land owned by the Tsilhqot’in could be arbitrarily reduced
to a few village sites and fishing rocks within this larger territory.
Critically, the Court found that development on land owned by Indigenous
peoples requires the consent of those nations.
While the Court’s interpretation of Indigenous title applies only to
lands where Indigenous ownership has been recognized, the Court itself pointed
out that governments and industry should take note of the possibility of such
ownership eventually being established.
Much of the route of the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline
crosses territory where there are no treaties with Indigenous peoples and the
underlying issue of Indigenous land title has never been resolved. These issues were excluded from the
mandate of the public review on which the government says it based its decision
to approve Northern Gateway.
Amnesty International had joined with the Canadian Friends Service
Committee (Quakers) to intervene in the Tsilhqot’in Supreme Court case. We
issued a joint statement welcoming the decision
and “the cautionary message that the Court sent to governments and private
developers looking to push ahead with projects in lands where, like much of BC,
the issue of Indigenous title has not yet been resolved.”
Thank you for standing behind Amnesty International's
actions in support of the rights of Indigenous Peoples in Canada and around the
world.
Together, we're creating a
more just world, where universal human rights are shared by all.
Sincerely,
Alex Neve
Secretary General
Amnesty International Canada
No comments:
Post a Comment