Delgamuukw Case

DELGAMUUKW CASE is a landmark legal case involving the GITKSAN and WET'SUWET'EN people whose hereditary chiefs sued the provincial and federal governments in 1984 for ownership of and jurisdiction over 58,000 sq km of their traditional territory in northwest BC. The name of the case is derived from the traditional name of one of the chiefs who initiated the claim. The trial before the BC Supreme Court began on 11 May 1987 and lasted until 30 June 1990. On 8 Mar 1991, Chief Justice Allan McEachern dismissed the claim in a controversial decision. The BC Court of Appeal in 1993 also dismissed the claim for jurisdiction, but acknowledged that the Gitksan-Wet'suwet'en have "unextinguished non-exclusive ABORIGINAL RIGHTS, other than a right to ownership," and said that these should be negotiated with government. The case went forward to the Supreme Court of Canada, which in Dec 1997 acknowledged aboriginal title and ordered a new trial. The court ruled that oral history, which played a crucial role in the plaintiffs' case, should be accepted by the court, a decision that contradicted Justice McEachern's flat rejection of such testimony in the original case. The Supreme Court also encouraged the 2 sides to seek a negotiated settlement outside the courts.