TREATIES AND AGREEMENTS — Breach — Recognition of existing aboriginal and treaty rights — Limitation periods

Law360 Canada ( April 12, 2024, 12:38 PM EDT) -- Appeal by Appellants from a judgment of the Federal Court of Appeal varying a judgment of the Federal Court. The Blackfoot Confederacy and the Crown executed Treaty 7 (Treaty), which established Reserve No. 148 (Reserve). It was the home of the Blood Tribe. Under the Treaty, the size of the Reserve was to be established through a formula promising one square mile for each family of five persons, or in that proportion for larger and smaller families. The Blood Tribe has long claimed that the actual size of its Reserve did not accord with that promised by the Treaty and, in 1980, commenced an action in the Federal Court. At trial, the Federal Court dismissed the Blood Tribe’s claims except for a Treaty Land Entitlement (TLE) claim which the trial judge found could not have been pursued in a Canadian court prior to the enactment of s. 35(1) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (Charter). The trial judge found that Canada was in breach of its treaty commitment, and that the size of the Reserve was understated by 162.5 square miles. The Federal Court of Appeal allowed the appeal and varied the Federal Court’s judgment to state that the TLE Claim was statute-barred....