Union of Nova Scotia Indians et al v Nova Scotia (Attorney General), 2001 NSCA 110

This appeal was heard in the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal, and occurred following the decisions in Union of Nova Scotia Indians v Maritimes and Northeast Pipeline Management Ltd, 1999 CanLII 7556 (FCA), Union of Nova Scotia Indians v Nova Scotia (Attorney General), 1999 CanLII 1487 (NS SC), Union of Nova Scotia Indians v Maritimes and Northeast Pipeline Management Ltd, 1999 CanLII 8932 (FCA), and Union of Nova Scotia Indians v Nova Scotia (Attorney General), 1999 NSCA 160 (CanLII). 

Prior to this appeal, the federal government had granted Maritimes and Northeast Pipeline Limited and Maritimes and Northeast Pipeline Limited Partnership the right to build a natural gas pipeline over government lands. The Appellants, The Union of Nova Scotia Indians, the Confederacy of Mainland Mi’kmaq, and the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaq Chiefs, applied to have the order by the federal government reversed. They also sought a declaration stating that the federal government had a constitutional and fiduciary duty towards the Indigenous peoples of Nova Scotia to protect their Aboriginal and treaty rights and interests which the government had failed to uphold.

A Chambers motion before a judge of the Nova Scotia Supreme Court had resulted in a Court order declaring that the Applicants' application in court would be converted to an action (a different and more involved form of legal proceeding). Here, the Appellants argued that the Chambers decision was made in error.

The Court of Appeal found that the legal issues raised by the Appellants would result in conflicting expert testimony being raised by the parties on each side, and so the full trial that would come along with an action (as opposed to an application in court) would be a more appropriate venue to allow for a thorough examination of the complex factual and legal issues raised. For these reasons, the appeal was dismissed.

View the Decision on CanLII: https://www.canlii.org/en/ns/nsca/doc/2001/2001nsca110/2001nsca110.html

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