Law360 Canada (November 16, 2023, 6:47 AM EST) -- Application by Band Members Alliance and Advocacy Association of Canada (BMAAAC) for intervener status in an appeal from judgment and application for extension of time to bring its application to intervene. The BMAAAC brought this application for intervener status outside of the time limits prescribed by the Court of Appeal Rules. The parties to the appeal were all members of Peters First Nation, consisting of 72 members (Band). The BMAAAC was a federally incorporated non-profit society that had significant interest in the issues raised on appeal as an organization dedicated to helping individual band members seek accountability and fairness from their band council. The appellants were the Band Council as Band Councillors and the respondents were members of the Band. The respondents brought an action alleging that the Band Council breached its fiduciary duty to Band members by reaping personal gains without complying with conflict of interest protocols. The trial judge found that the appellants breached their fiduciary duty by, among other reasons, employing themselves as Band staff and setting their own remuneration and paying themselves to attend meetings. On appeal, the appellants alleged that the trial judge erred in law in finding that they owed a fiduciary duty to individual Band members regarding the Band’s financial management. The issues of contention on this application were whether there was a public law issue that legitimately engaged BMAAAC’s interests and whether it had a unique and distinct perspective on the issues, or whether its proposed submissions were, as the appellants maintained, simply duplicative of arguments already advanced by the respondents....