''Guerin v The Queen''

984 Year 984 ( CMLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Spring – German boy-king Otto III (4-years old) is seized by the deposed Henry II ...

2 S.C.R. 335 was a landmark Supreme Court of Canada decision on Aboriginal rights where the Court first stated that the government has a

fiduciary duty A fiduciary is a person who holds a legal or ethical relationship of trust with one or more other parties (person or group of persons). Typically, a fiduciary prudently takes care of money or other assets for another person. One party, for examp ...

towards the

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and established Aboriginal title to be a '' sui generis'' right.

Background

The

Musqueam The Musqueam Indian Band ( ; hur, xʷməθkʷəy̓əm ) is a First Nations band government in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is the only First Nations band whose reserve community lies within the boundaries of the City of Vancou ...

Indian band held roughly of prime land in the

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

area. In 1958, the federal government, on behalf of the band, made a deal with the Shaughnessy Heights Golf Club to lease of the land in order to build a golf club. However, the actual terms of the agreement between the government and the club were not those that were told to the band. In 1970, the band discovered the true terms and protested on the basis that the government had a duty to properly explain the full extent of the deal. At trial, the court held that the Crown had breached their trust with the band and awarded the Musqueam ten million dollars. This ruling was overturned by the Federal Court of Appeal. The matter was then considered by the Supreme Court of Canada. The case was named for Delbert Guerin, chief of the Musqueam, who credited his mother Gertrude Guerin, an earlier chief, as its inspiration: "The Guerin case came about because of me listening to her complain, no doubt about it."

Decision

Dickson J., with Beetz, Chouinard, and Lamer concurring, held that the nature of Aboriginal title imposes an enforceable fiduciary duty upon the Crown. Dickson described the nature of Aboriginal title as a ''sui generis'' right that has no equivalent. Aboriginal Title was held to be a pre-existing legal right, not created by the

Royal Proclamation of 1763 The Royal Proclamation of 1763 was issued by King George III on 7 October 1763. It followed the Treaty of Paris (1763), which formally ended the Seven Years' War and transferred French territory in North America to Great Britain. The Procla ...

, by s. 18(1) of the '' Indian Act'', or by any other executive order or legislative provision. It is based upon the requirement to surrender land to the Crown as well as the historic relationship between the Crown and Aboriginals. The special right means that title to Aboriginal land can be alienable only to the Crown, which may use it only in the interests of the Aboriginals. The Court found that the Crown's agents promised the Band to lease the land in question on certain specified terms, but in fact leased the land on different terms which was much less valuable. As a result the majority held that it would be unconscionable to permit the Crown to simply ignore the terms promised to the First Nation's Band. The Court relied on principles from equity, that an agent, working on behalf of a principal, must act at all times in the principal's best interests. The Crown had breached their fiduciary obligation and thus the damages awarded by the lower court should be adopted to compensate for the Band's loss.

Aftermath

The principle of "fiduciary duty" later became integral in the interpretation of Section 35 of the

Constitution Act, 1982 The ''Constitution Act, 1982'' (french: link=no, Loi constitutionnelle de 1982) is a part of the Constitution of Canada.Formally enacted as Schedule B of the ''Canada Act 1982'', enacted by the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Section 60 of t ...

which provides for protection of Aboriginal rights.

References

External links

full text of decision from canlii.org

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guerin Supreme Court of Canada cases Canadian Aboriginal case law 1984 in Canadian case law Aboriginal title in Canada

Background

Decision

Aftermath

See also

References

Further reading

External links