Federal Appeal Court upholds land claim case in favour of B.C. First Nation

VANCOUVER – The Federal Court of Appeal has ruled in favour of a First Nations band in northern B.C. in a land claim case that stretches back more than a century.

The case involves a four-hectare park along the Skeena River, northeast of Terrace, that is surrounded by Kitselas First Nation reserve land.

The Specific Claims Tribunal, a body set up by the federal government in 2008, ruled that Ottawa was wrong to exclude the land from the Kitselas when the band’s reserve lands were established in the late 1890s.

The federal government appealed, arguing the 123-year-old decision was correct and should be left alone.

But the Federal Court of Appeal has upheld the tribunal ruling, saying the original decision to exclude the parcel of land failed to take into account the Kitselas’s historic use of the area or properly consult the band.

The tribunal has not yet dealt with potential compensation, which is to be decided next unless the federal government appeals to the Supreme Court of Canada.

The Special Claims Tribunal ruled the federal government wrongly kept four hectares of land from the Kitselas First Nation in 1891, and the court has rejected an appeal launched by the federal government.

B.C. First Nation wins land claim case

Land-Claim-Appeal

VANCOUVER — The Federal Court of Appeal has ruled in favour of a B.C. native band in a land claim case that stretches back 123 years. The Special Claims Tribunal ruled the federal government wrongly kept four hectares of land from the Kitselas First Nation in 1891, and the court has rejected an appeal launched by the federal government. Will be writethru