The British Columbia Court of Appeal has overturned a 2024 lower-court ruling this week after finding the judge used an "arbitrary boundary" to determine a First Nation's native title over a swath of Nootka Island off western Vancouver Island, Canada.
The three-judge BC panel found the province's Supreme Court made three legal errors when limiting the Nuchatlaht Nation's claim over a 201 square kilometre portion of Nootka Island, finding the nation had met the test for "sufficient occupation" when the British Crown asserted sovereignty.
The Nuchatlaht's lawyer, Jack Woodward, told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation on Thursday that they are "jubilant" about the recognition of the ownership of their land.
He said Nuchatlaht is a small, remote community that has been "somewhat ignored and neglected by the rest of society for a very long time".
"They had to sit by helplessly and watch their ancestral heritage being industrialised and logged," he said.
Mr Woodward told the CBC Nuchatlaht has always asserted its ownership over the area, but the provincial government of BC has been managing Crown land like it with "only one objective, which is forestry".
He said it's been "heartbreaking" for Nuchatlaht to see their ancient territory logged, and that the Court of Appeal decision was more than a victory, comparing it with securing an inheritance to which they had always been entitled.
The 2024 lower-court ruling found the Nuchatlaht had established title over coastal areas of the island, but the Appeal Court found the judge had relied too much on the findings of an anthropologist about the nation's use of "remote inland" areas before and after 1846.
The ruling says the trial judge drew an "arbitrary boundary" in granting title over a portion of the area claimed, which wasn't "based upon the Nuchatlaht's manner of life, material resources, and technological abilities", the CBC reports.
The Court of Appeal found the lower court's adoption of the boundary did not reflect the nation's use of the lands as evidenced by the presence of thousands of "culturally modified trees" dating back to the late 18th century.
Mr Woodward said the Nuchatlaht can now come up with a land-use plan that addresses the community's needs for infrastructure, roads and housing.
"The Court of Appeal did what judges are supposed to do. They looked at the facts and they looked at the law and they applied the law to the facts," he told the CBC. "You know, if you don't get your uncle's inheritance, you expect the judge to fix that. These people didn't get their inheritance and the judges have fixed it. That's the right thing to do."
