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ARTICLE · 09 JULY 2014

What Does Aboriginal Title Mean For Mining In British Columbia?

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The decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in Tsilhqot'in v. BC has received a great deal of attention and has caused people to ask some important questions.

CanadaEnergy and Natural Resources
Robin Junger
Robin Junger
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The recent decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in Tsilhqot'in v. BC 2014 SCC 44 has received a great deal of attention and has caused people to ask some important questions. Nowhere has this been more so than in the mining sector. This bulletin attempts to address some of those questions.

Does aboriginal title include mineral rights?

The law is not completely settled on this point.

In Delgamuukw v BC, [1997] 3 SCR 1010, then Chief Justice Lamer, when explaining that the content of aboriginal title is not restricted to practices, customs and traditions which are integral to distinctive aboriginal cultures, stated:

122    The [Indian Oil and Gas Act] presumes that the aboriginal interest in reserve land includes mineral rights, a point which this Court unanimously accepted with respect to the Indian Act in Apsassin v. Canada (Department of Indian Affairs & Northern Development), [1995] 4 S.C.R. 344 (S.C.C.). On the basis of Guerin, aboriginal title

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