Aboriginal Law: 2006 Year in Review

  • February 06, 2007

2006 was another important year for developments in Aboriginal law. In December, the Supreme Court of Canada released two important decisions concerning rights protected by s. 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982. In R. v. Sappier; R. v. Gray, 2006 SCC 54 (December 7), the Court recognized an Aboriginal right to harvest wood on Crown land for domestic uses. In R. v. Morris, 2006 SCC 59 (December 21), the Court recognized a treaty right to hunt at night using illumination.

The Supreme Court released one other significant Aboriginal law decision in 2006, concerning the statutory protections offered by the federal Indian Act to First Nation funds situated or deemed to be situated on reserve: McDiarmid Lumber Ltd. v. God’s Lake First Nation, 2006 SCC 58 (December 15).

There were also a number of significant appellate court Aboriginal law decisions in 2006. This paper will briefly review these decisions. It does not review legislative developments.

About the Author

Mark Crow, Counsel, Constitutional Law Branch, Attorney General of Ontario

This was orginally presented at the program " Hot Topics & Developments in Aboriginal Law in 2006", OBA Institute 2007 (February 6, 2007)

Any opinions expressed in this paper are those of the author alone

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