Aboriginal title creates certainty, will spur innovation, says mining expert

VANCOUVER – Industry, policy-makers and indigenous leaders alike will be sorting through the fallout from the Supreme Court of Canada’s landmark ruling on aboriginal title for some time to come.

But a University of British Columbia expert on mining says the decision is nothing to fear.

Prof. Dawn Mills of the Department of Mining Engineering says the ruling has created an opportunity for industry to work with First Nations to become more ecologically sound.

She says the industry is already in the beginning stages of a new way of doing business.

The high court decision grants aboriginal title to the Tsilhqot’in (SILL’-koh-teen) Nation in B.C.’s Cariboo-Chilcotin and makes it easier for First Nations to establish title over unceded lands in their traditional territory.

Prof. William Lindsay of Simon Fraser University hailed the decision as the most significant leap yet in First Nations rights in Canada.