By The Canadian Press The Supreme Court of Canada will hear British Columbia’s appeal of a ruling that found the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the provincial mineral claims regime are “inconsistent.” The B.C. Court of Appeal ruled in December that the provincial Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act should be “properly interpreted” to incorporate UNDRIP into the laws of B.C. with immediate legal effect. At the time, a statement from the Gitxaala Nation, one of two nations challenging the law, called the decision precedent-setting. The nation, along with the Ehattesaht First Nation, argued the operation of an automated online registry permitting “free miners” to register claims to mineral rights on Crown land before consulting affected First Nations was inconsistent with the Crown’s…
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