SCC upholds [Ontario F.N.] Grassy Narrows land title ruling – by Steve Rennie (CTV News – July 11, 2014)

http://www.ctvnews.ca/

Canadian Press – OTTAWA — The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled the Ontario government does not need Ottawa’s permission to permit industrial logging on a First Nation’s traditional lands.

While Friday’s unanimous 7-0 ruling may go down as a defeat for the Grassy Narrows First Nation, it does answer an important legal question: can the province can act alone to take up treaty land for forestry and mining? Yes, it can.

“I agree with the Ontario Court of Appeal that Ontario and only Ontario has the power to take up lands under Treaty 3,” Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin wrote in the decision.

Grassy Narrows appealed after Ontario’s highest court ruled in March 2013 that the province has the right to take up treaty land for forestry and mining. Only Ottawa has the power to take up the land, argued the First Nation, because treaty promises were made with the federal Crown.

The Supreme Court rejected that argument. “The promises made in Treaty 3 were promises of the Crown, not those of Canada,” McLachlin wrote. Both levels of government are responsible for fulfilling those promises under the Constitution, she said.

“Thus, when the lands covered by the treaty were determined to belong to the province of Ontario, the province became responsible for their governance with respect to matters falling under its jurisdiction … subject to the terms of the treaty,” McLachlin wrote.

“It follows that the province is entitled to take up lands under the treaty for forestry purposes.”

Grassy Narrows Chief Roger Fobister said his First Nation will keep fighting to protect its people and land.
“While we hoped the Supreme Court of Canada would respect our treaty, we are determined to see Treaty 3 respected,” he said in a statement.

“We expect the government of Ontario and Canada to learn from the last ten years and come to the table ready to deal with the real needs of our people which requires ensuring a sustainable future both environmentally and economically.”
Grassy Narrows is a tiny community from northwestern Ontario that has spent more than a decade in court fighting the province’s decision to issue a licence for clearcut operations in parts of the Keewatin portion of Treaty 3 territory.

For the rest of this article, click here: http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/scc-upholds-grassy-narrows-land-title-ruling-1.1909385