Costa Concordia: A Sea of Suits The RMS Titanic struck an iceberg on her maiden voyage from England to New York City. The ship sank on April 15, 1912. History repeated itself nearly 100 years later when the Costa Concordia hit a rock off the Coast of Italy and sunk on January 13, 2012. As [...]

In November of last year, Justice Binnie, for a unanimous Supreme Court of Canada, denied an appeal brought by the Lax Kw’alaams First Nations, along with other First Nations groups “whose ancestral lands stretch along the northwest coast of British Columbia between the estuaries of the Nass and lower Skeena Rivers.” The Lax Kw’alaams’ attempt [...]

On July 21, 2011, the Supreme Court of Canada handed down its decision in Alberta v. Cunningham. Our senior contributing editor Joseph Marcus discussed the case earlier this week. Given the significance of this case, and its contribution to the section 15(2) jurisprudence, guest contributor Marina Chernenko provides some additional analysis about the decision’s implications. [...]

Earlier this summer, Chief Justice McLachlin, for a unanimous Supreme Court of Canada, rejected a constitutional equality claim brought by a group of claimants from the Peavine Métis Settlement in Alberta. The decision offers a particularly powerful demonstration of how ss. 15(1) and 15(2) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms work together to [...]

The Supreme Court of Canada has overturned a long line of Federal Court of Appeal cases that had held that registered Indians who earned interest from investments held in financial institutions located on reserve were liable for tax. On the face of it, the decisions of the Federal Court seemed to directly contradict section 87 [...]

Facts & Background: What started out as a normal night out in 2004 turned quickly into a tragedy. There was a bush party on the Penticton Indian reserve in British Columbia, and many of the partygoers were under the influence, with alcohol, marijuana and cocaine in full supply. Dustin Paul was 23 years old, high [...]

The SCC is currently considering the very modern problem of Alexandre Dubé’s capital gains tax woes. As a member of the Obejiwan First Nation (as defined by the Indian Act R.S.C. 1985, c.I-5), living on a reserve in Quebec, many of Mr. Dubé’s sources of income are exempt from federal and provincial taxation schemes. He [...]

The assertion of Crown sovereignty is a question that has never been resolved in Canadian constitutional jurisprudence. The mindset of original settlers was that Aboriginal peoples did not count as inhabitants of the land, so discovery applied in order to assert sovereignty. As Canada moves to an era of equality of all peoples, ignoring a [...]

On March 11, the Supreme Court of Canada granted leave to appeal in Cunningham v. Alberta (Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development), 2009 ABCA 239, a constitutional equality case centered on native rights legislation. The Case At issue were sections 75 and 90(1)(a) of the Métis Settlements Act, R.S.A. 2000, c. M-14 (“MSA“). The [...]

Canada recognizes and affirms existing Aboriginal and treaty rights in section 35(1) of the Constitution Act, 1982. The SCC, following this constitutional recognition, devised a jurisprudential regime setting out standards for defining, identifying and violating Aboriginal rights. This regime incorporates the duty to consult and accommodate Aboriginal rights. The SCC in Haida Nation v. British [...]