The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.
Ontario’s natural resource companies welcomed a ruling Friday by the Supreme Court of Canada that confirms provinces have the authority to issue logging, mining and other development permits on aboriginal treaty lands.
In doing so, the high court rejected a claim from Grassy Narrows First Nation, which argued that Ontario needed the federal government’s approval before issuing a logging permit.
Had the Supreme Court ruled in favour of Grassy Narrows in the so-called Keewatin case, many permits issued in Ontario that did not involve the federal government could have been subject to challenge by First Nations.
“If the decision had gone the other way, and in light of [last month’s] Roger William case, there would have been great uncertainty with respect to aboriginal title, aboriginal treaties and aboriginal law in Ontario,” said Neal Smitheman, a partner at Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP, referring to the Supreme Court judgment in British Columbia that changed the way governments must deal with First Nations over land where aboriginal title is claimed.
Friday’s top court ruling involved the interpretation of Treaty 3, a 141-year-old agreement that covers about 142,000 square kilometres in what is now northwestern Ontario and eastern Manitoba.