The appeal concerned a specific claim for compensation based on historic pre-emption of Indigenous village lands and alleged Crown breaches before and after Confederation.
The Court held that reasonableness review applied to the Tribunal’s validity decision and restored findings that fiduciary obligations were breached in relation to the village lands.
The majority concluded the Tribunal reasonably found both pre-Confederation and post-Confederation fiduciary breaches and reasonably interpreted the extended meaning of the Crown for statutory responsibility.
The appeal was allowed and the Tribunal’s validity decision was restored, with compensation issues left to the compensation stage.
