Supreme Court of Canada agrees to weigh in on B.C. First Nations’ title dispute

Construction workers build scaffolding at the Supreme Court of Canada in Ottawa, Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

The Supreme Court of Canada has agreed to weigh in on a dispute between First Nations that have overlapping land title claims in British Columbia.

The overlapping claims involve the Gitanyow Nation, the Nisga’a Nation and the Tsetsaut Skii km Lax Ha Nation, and Canada’s high court on Thursday agreed to hear appeals of decisions by lower courts in B.C.

The Gitanyow Nation’s title claims overlap with the Nisga’a Nation’s claims, which are covered by a treaty, and both the B.C. Supreme Court and Court of Appeal denied the Nisga’a’s bid to be added as a defendant in the Gitanyow’s case, which is scheduled for trial in B.C. Supreme Court next month.

The Tsetsaut Skii km Lax Ha Nation also has overlapping claims with the Gitanyow, and the Supreme Court of Canada is now poised to decide how courts will handle complex title disputes between First Nations.

Lawyer Ryan Beaton, a member of the Tsetsaut Skii km Lax Ha Nation’s legal team, says hearing the cases separately would have been “inefficient” and the high court now has “an opportunity to speak to how these overlapping cases should be litigated.”

Beaton says the top court has yet to address how courts should deal with overlapping title claims, and its decision will set down guidelines and principles “for how these types of overlaps will be litigated” in the future.

“In B.C., especially with most First Nations not having treaties with the Crown, there are many title claims and many potential title cases that will involve overlapping claims,” he said.

“We said to the Supreme Court and, urging them to take this appeal, that there needs to be some guidance from the country’s highest court on how the courts, lower courts, should deal with these cases as they start to come now.”

This report by Darryl Greer of The Canadian Press was first published April 24, 2025.