Law360 Canada ( February 17, 2026, 9:36 AM EST) -- Appeal by appellants from chambers judge’s decision regarding the Crown’s duty to consult. This appeal concerned the interpretation and legal effect of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (Declaration Act) and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). The appellant First Nations asserted Aboriginal and Indigenous rights in and title to certain territories in British Columbia. Following the grant of mineral claims in those territories, they brought petitions below challenging the mineral tenure system then operated under the Mineral Tenure Act. The appellants contended that the operation of an automated online registry permitting “free miners” to register claims to mineral rights on Crown land prior to consultation with affected First Nations (the Mineral Claims Regime) was inconsistent with the Crown’s duties under s. 35 of the Constitution Act, the honour of the Crown, s. 3 of the Declaration Act, and their rights recognized in UNDRIP and the Declaration Act. Together with other relief, they sought declarations with respect to the alleged inconsistencies. The chambers judge accepted that the Crown’s s. 35 duty to consult was triggered by the grant of mineral claims, but he dismissed the appellants’ claims for related declaratory relief, from which orders they appealed....