Appeal dismissed. There is no reversible error of law or fact demonstrated in the trial judge’s analysis of a long-standing dispute over the western boundary of Treaty 8.
In 2005, the West Moberly First Nations, Halfway River First Nation, Saulteaux First Nations, Prophet River First Nation and Doig River First Nation [“Respondent FNs”] commenced the underlying litigation and are the respondents on appeal. The interest of the Respondent FNs in obtaining the declaration granted stems from their position that the Treaty gives them hunting, trapping and fishing rights [“harvesting rights”] throughout a tract of land defined in a “metes and bounds clause” of Treaty 8 [“tract”]. However, whether the Treaty gives them such rights throughout that tract was not the subject matter of the litigation at trial.
Between 1871 and 1921, the Dominion of Canada (“Canada”) entered into 11 “numbered treaties” with Indigenous groups throughout the country. This appeal concerns Treaty 8, which was signed on June 21, 1899, at Lesser Slave Lake in the District of Athabasca. What the original signatories to the Treaty meant by the phrase “the central range of the Rocky Mountains” has been a vexing issue for over 100 years. In the underlying litigation, Respondent FNs represent descendants of Indigenous groups who signed adhesion agreements with Canada or individuals who were added to the rolls of the Treaty. The plaintiffs applied for a declaration that the western boundary of the tract described in the Treaty referred to the height of land along the continental divide between the Arctic and Pacific watersheds, approximately 48,000 square miles. The trial judge concluded this clause referred to the Arctic-Pacific Divide, which is located within the Rocky Mountains up until the 54th parallel north, then diverges west.
The dissent stated that no declaration was available in the circumstances of this case or in the alternative, the only declaration available was one stating the relevant provision refers to a watershed of the Rocky Mountains. The dissent views that declarations must affect a legal right and since it is unclear from the text of the Treaty alone that any rights are tied to the provision, and consequently, the declaration should not have been granted.
The majority favoured that the declaration of the trial judge is upheld, and that there was no error in law or fact in his judgement. The requested declaration clarifies legal rights and obligations and the trial judge had discretion to issue it. The Court should not interfere with the conclusions he reached from his vantage point at trial. There is no obligation in the law of declaratory relief to litigate the range of a declaration’s effects. The question is simply whether the declaration will have practical utility.
Regardless of the right or obligation being interpreted, if there is a possibility it could be affected by the location of the western boundary, the parties will be assisted by knowing that boundary. The Treaty 8 First Nations who assert rights within the tract may find the declaration clarifies their ability to protect those rights through the existing Treaty, rather than as s 35 rights stemming from historic use and occupation.
As well, under the majority’s view, the honour of the Crown may give rise to a remedy if this was breached in the setting of the boundary, but it should not change the interpretation of the evidence. There is ambiguity over whether Treaty 8 entitles signatories to hunt, trap, and fish throughout Treaty 8 or whether Treaty 8 only guarantees this right within their traditional territory (i.e. a subset of the Treaty). This again ties back into the effect of Treaty 8 on non-treaty First Nations in BC whose territories are covered by the western boundary accepted at trial. If Treaty 8 only guarantees harvesting rights within the traditional territories of the signatory First Nations then it will have no effect on the First Nations in the Rockies who were never consulted.
Another legal issue discussed, was the relevance of the Indigenous perspective on treaty versus the trial judge’s heavy emphasis on the Crown’s perspective. All judges on appeal seem to agree that this is important but the majority decision found there to be very little evidence of the Indigenous perspective, hence the trial judge’s emphasis on the Crown’s perspective.