Paul C. Williams

Ontario brought a motion to quash an application by the Thessalon First Nation regarding the size of its reserve under the Robinson-Huron Treaty of 1850.

Ontario argued the complex historical and treaty issues required a trial rather than an application.

The court agreed that the matter required a proper evidentiary foundation and ordered the application converted to an action under Rule 38.10(1)(b), with a staged litigation process to follow.

The Thessalon First Nation (TFN) sought an interim injunction to prevent The Municipality of Huron Shores from proceeding with a tax sale of lands TFN claims are part of its reservation.

TFN asserts an historical error in the 1850 Huron Treaty survey.

The Municipality had not collected taxes on the land since 2000, agreeing with TFN's position, but initiated a tax sale due to significant arrears and provincial levies.

The court applied the RJR-MacDonald test, finding a serious question to be tried regarding Aboriginal land title and the Honour of the Crown, irreparable harm if the land were sold, and that the balance of inconvenience favored TFN, especially considering the potential for the Province to mitigate its costs.

The interim injunction was granted, halting the tax sale, with a further hearing scheduled to allow provincial and federal governments to make submissions.

The Attorney General of Ontario brought a motion to clarify the court's previous decision regarding a child with leukemia whose parents sought to pursue traditional Haudenosaunee medicine alongside or instead of chemotherapy.

The court had previously found that the mother's constitutionally protected right under section 35 of the Constitution to pursue traditional medicine meant the child was not in need of protection.

The Attorney General, rather than appealing, engaged in dialogue with all parties, resulting in a joint submission.

The court clarified its decision by adding paragraphs confirming that while the aboriginal right to traditional medicine must be respected, the best interests of the child remain paramount, and that the family could pursue both traditional and Western medicine collaboratively.

The respondent, a Mohawk of Akwesasne, crossed the international border from the United States into Canada with goods intended for trade with other First Nations and claimed an aboriginal right exempting him from paying customs duties.

The Supreme Court of Canada held that the claimed aboriginal right to bring goods across the St. Lawrence River for the purposes of trade was not established.

The evidence did not demonstrate that such trade was an integral, defining feature of the pre-contact Mohawk society.

The appeal was allowed, and the respondent was required to pay the applicable customs duties.

Several Indigenous moving parties sought leave to intervene in multiple appeals concerning Aboriginal rights and title issues.

The court held that three of the moving parties had a sufficient interest in the outcome and could usefully add to the issues, and granted intervention on strict conditions, including that the existing record would stand and a single factum be delivered.

A separate moving party seeking intervention primarily to challenge portions of Ontario's factum was refused leave because the court was not persuaded it would add anything materially new to the arguments already to be made by existing parties.

No costs were ordered.