Gitxaala Nation in B.C. goes to court over automatic mineral rights

"This can be done legally with no requirement for consultation or consent from Gitxaala and it is a complete disregard of our own laws and governance," said Chief Coun. Linda Innes

A B.C. First Nation is challenging in court an online registry the province uses to automatically grant mineral rights on its territory.

Gitxaala Nation has filed a petition to the B.C. Supreme Court seeking a judicial review, arguing that the process doesn’t require the government to consult with the First Nation and simply grants the claim.

“The fact that B.C. still grants mineral claims with total disregard for Indigenous nations like Gitxaała is a damaging relic of colonialism that has no place in the present day,” said Hereditary Chief Matthew Hill in a news release.

The petition, filed with the court on Monday, asserts that the government didn’t fulfill its duty by granting claims without consulting the nation. It is asking the courts to quash seven mineral claims on Banks Island, south of Prince Rupert, and for the court to suspend claim staking in Gitxaala territory.

“For too long, anyone with a computer and $34 has been able to acquire rights to minerals on the traditional territory of Gitxaala Nation,” Gitxaala Chief Coun. Linda Innes said in a Tuesday news conference Tuesday.

“This can be done legally with no requirement for consultation or consent from Gitxaala and it is a complete disregard of our own laws and governance.”

She argued the process is a violation of the government’s constitutional requirements to consult with the First Nation and the United Nations Declarations on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which the province has committed to implement. The UN declaration requires governments to obtain free, prior and informed consent before taking actions that affect Indigenous Peoples and territories.

“Gitxaala has never surrendered or ceded aboriginal title or other rights respecting Banks Island,” the court document says. “On the basis that the provincial Crown granted the claims without having fulfilled the duty to consult, the grant of each of the claims must be quashed or set aside.”