
The most important court case over aboriginal rights in Canada’s history ended with a landmark decision handed down Thursday by the Supreme Court of Canada, which granted declaration of aboriginal title to more than 1,700 square kilometres of land to the Tsilhqot’in First Nation.The move is being lauded as a “game changer” by lawyers, chiefs, and First Nations representatives throughout Canada and was met by cheers and tears of jubilation, said Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, president of Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs.
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Now, the Supreme Court’s latest decision completely rejects this notion, and asserts that aboriginal title in fact does apply to the broad expanse of a nation’s territory, he added.At its essence the issue has been how to define and then prove aboriginal title, and how that title would then be exercised by the nation that possessed it.
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