Aboriginal/Indigenous Law

Saskatchewan (Min. of Environment) v.  Métis Nation – Saskatchewan, SCC File No. 40720

Paliare Roland will be appearing on behalf of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples in an intervention before the Supreme Court in an appeal concerning the duty to consult and the circumstances in which a judicial review application might be considered an abuse of process where underlying substantive litigation has not moved forward. The Congress will argue that the overall objective of reconciliation ought to be considered where abuse of process or related doctrines are asserted in proceedings where Indigenous rights are at stake, and that abuse of process should only rarely be invoked in duty to consult cases.

Attorney General of Québec v. Pekuakamiulnuatsh Takuhikan, SCC File No. 40720

Paliare Roland appeared on behalf of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples in an intervention before the Supreme Court in an appeal about whether the constitutional principle of the honour of the Crown applies in relation to agreements entered into between the federal government, government of Quebec, and the band council of the Pekuakamiulnuatsh Innu First Nation concerning funding for an Indigenous police force. The Congress argued that the honour of the Crown is not limited to the implementation of policing agreements, but rather is engaged whenever the Crown negotiates or deals with Indigenous peoples in furtherance of self-government rights it has acknowledged.

Joyce v Nova Scotia (AG), 2022 NSSC 22, appeal dismissed 2024 NSCA 9

Paliare Roland represents a class of individuals who held or hold Aboriginal and Treaty Rights Access Passports (“ATRA Passports”) in Nova Scota. In 2017, the Province of Nova Scotia stopped recognizing the Aboriginal rights to harvest of ATRA Passport holders, who are predominantly non-status peoples under the Indian Act. The class was certified by the Nova Scotia Supreme Court on January 27, 2022. This is the first case in Canada to be certified for a class of off-reserve/non-status Indians asserting damages for loss of harvesting rights. On January 16, 2024, the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal dismissed the Province’s appeal from certification. The action will now proceed to trial.

Reference re An Act respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families, 2024 SCC 5

Paliare Roland appeared on behalf of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples in an intervention before the Supreme Court about the constitutionality of An Act respecting First Nations, Inuit, and Métis children, youth and families, which considered whether Indigenous groups have an inherent right to self government protected by s.35 of the Constitution Act, 1982. The Congress supported self-government rights but cautioned that Indigenous governments exercising jurisdiction over child and family services should be accountable for their laws and decisions and subject to meaningful review under the Charter.

Dickson v Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation, 2024 SCC 10

Paliare Roland represented the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples in an intervention before the Supreme Court in an appeal considering whether a First Nation can impose a residency requirement on candidates for Band Councillor, requiring that they move to the home community if elected. Dickson resided in Whitehorse and could not move because of her son’s medical needs. The Congress argued that the Charter applies to Indigenous governments and that the requirement discriminated against off-reserve members contrary to s.15 of the Charter.

Varley v. Canada (Attorney General), Fed. Ct. File No. T-2166-18

Paliare Roland is co-counsel representing a class of Métis and non-status Indians affected by the Sixties Scoop (but not included in the settlement of other Sixties Scoop litigation). The plaintiffs argue that Canada failed in its fiduciary and common law duties to the class by placing class members in the care of non-Indigenous foster or adoptive parents, resulting in a loss of Indigenous identity. Paliare Roland and co-counsel were awarded carriage following a contested motion (2019 FC 766, affirmed 2020 FCA 119) The action was certified as a class proceeding in June 2021 (2021 FC 589). The matter will proceed by way of summary judgment in December 2024.

Brunswick House First Nation v. Canada (Attorney General), 2023 CanLII 73071 (FC)

Paliare Roland represented the Métis Nation of Alberta in a motion for leave to intervene in a challenge brought by a group of First Nations to the Métis Government Recognition and Self-Government Implementation Agreement between the Métis Nation of Ontario and Canada.

1. v. Desautel, 2021 SCC 17

Paliare Roland represented the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples in an intervention before the Supreme Court of Canada concerning the s. 35 rights of a U.S.-based Indigenous community that was historically connected to the Sinixt people, a cross-border people whose traditional territories were located in both present-day Canada and the U.S. The Congress argued that “aboriginal peoples of Canada” in s. 35(1) must be interpreted to include Aboriginal peoples whose communities were displaced or disrupted by colonialism, in light of s.35’s overall purpose of reconciliation.

Canada (Attorney General) v. First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada, 2021 FC 969

Paliare Roland represented the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples in an intervention before the Federal Court inn an application for judicial review brought by the federal government from a series of decisions by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal. These decisions had found that the federal government had inadequately funded child and family and certain health services for Indigenous children. The Congress supported a broad definition of “First Nations children” who should be eligible to receive ‘Jordan’s Principle’ services, including many who did not have “status” under the Indian Act. The Federal Court accepted that the federal government’s approach to defining First Nations children was discriminatory and dismissed the federal government’s application.

Congress of Aboriginal Peoples v. Minister of Indigenous Services, Fed. Ct. File T-543-20

Paliare Roland represented the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples in a Charter challenge to the inadequate and unequal allocation of Covid funding to urban and off-reserve Indigenous people in the early phase of the pandemic. This litigation settled after the Government of Canada substantially increased its Covid funding available to off-reserve Indigenous people.

Beaver v. Hill, 2018 ONCA 816

Paliare Roland represented Ken Hill, a Haudenosaunee person who argued that the traditional conflict resolution procedures of the Haudenosaunee should be used to resolve disputes with his former girlfriend over custody and support for their child, as both Hill and Beaver were Haudenosaunee from the Six Nations community. Hill’s claim was struck before the Ontario Superior Court, but was successfully reinstated at the Court of Appeal.

Daniels v. Canada (Indian Affairs and Northern Development), 2016 SCC 12

Paliare Roland represented the plaintiffs through all levels of court in this ground-breaking case, culminating in the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision that Métis and non-status Indians fall under federal jurisdiction over “Indians, and lands reserved for Indians” in s.91(24) of the Constitution Act, 1867. This holding was contrary to decades of positioning by the federal government that it had no responsibility for the Métis, or any Indigenous people other than “status Indians” (people registered or entitled to be registered under the Indian Act) or registered Inuit.