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Supreme Court establishes test for awarding interim costs to impecunious litigants in public interest cases.
The respondent Indian bands began logging on Crown land without authorization, claiming aboriginal title.
The Minister of Forests issued stop-work orders and commenced enforcement proceedings.
The bands argued they lacked funds for a complex trial and sought an order for interim costs (costs in advance and in any event of the cause).
The Supreme Court of Canada upheld the Court of Appeal's decision to grant interim costs, establishing a three-part test for such awards in public interest litigation: the party must be genuinely impecunious, the claim must be prima facie meritorious, and the issues must transcend individual interests and be of public importance.
Order in Council granting reserve land for a canal interpreted as an easement; land remains taxable.
The Osoyoos Indian Band sought to tax lands within its reserve that had been taken by the Province of British Columbia for an irrigation canal pursuant to an Order in Council under s. 35 of the Indian Act.
The Town of Oliver, which operated the canal, objected to the assessment.
The Supreme Court of Canada held that the Order in Council was ambiguous and should be interpreted as granting only a statutory easement, not a fee simple interest, in accordance with the Crown's fiduciary duty to minimally impair the Indian interest in reserve land.
Consequently, the lands remained 'in the reserve' and were subject to the Band's taxation jurisdiction under s. 83(1)(a) of the Indian Act.
