BC Appeal Court Says Indigenous Rights Legislation Must Guide Interpretation of Laws Affecting First Nations

The Law Courts building, which is home to B.C. Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal, is seen in Vancouver, on Nov. 23, 2023. The Canadian Press/Darryl Dyck

The B.C. Court of Appeal says the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) adopted into provincial law must be the “interpretive lens” through which legal matters are viewed in the province.

In a landmark 2-1 ruling issued Dec. 5 the Court of Appeal found that the B.C. Supreme Court’s 2023 decision dismissing a case involving mineral rights on the territory of the Ehattesaht and Gitxaala First Nations should have taken the province’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA) into account in issuing a verdict, saying DRIPA “incorporates UNDRIP” into B.C. law.