First Peoples Law Report: Indigenous Rights In One Minute
| Welcome to “Indigenous Rights in One Minute: Clear, Plain Answers to all Your Questions”. Stay tuned for monthly answers to frequently asked questions, summaries of fundamental court decisions and more. You can also read it on our website. |
| WHY IS THE ST. CATHERINE’S MILLING DECISION IMPORTANT? The St. Catherine’s Milling (1888) decision is important because it was the first major Canadian court case to consider the relationship between Indigenous Peoples’ legal interests over their lands and the legal interests of the federal and provincial governments. The case was the result of a dispute between the federal and Ontario governments over logging rights in north-western Ontario—Indigenous Peoples were not directly involved. The federal government argued the lands had been owned by the Anishinaabe and that their land rights had passed to the federal government through Treaty #3. Ontario insisted that it held title to the lands. The case was ultimately heard by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in England, which was the highest court for Canadian legal disputes until 1949. The Privy Council decided that while the federal government had the right to pass laws affecting ‘Indians’ and their lands, Ontario had acquired the beneficial interest in Indigenous Peoples’ lands (except for Indian reserves), not the federal government. St. Catherine’s Milling imported the doctrine of discovery, which had been pronounced by the US Supreme Court in the 1820s, into Canadian law. The Canadian Supreme Court has continued to rely on the doctrine as fundamental to its interpretation of section 35(1) of the Constitution. |