The British Columbia First Nation challenging the province over an online registry it uses to automatically grant mineral rights is “very hopeful” the BC Supreme Court will side with it following a two-week hearing in Vancouver, its chief councilor said.

Linda Innes of the Gitxaala Nation told a news conference Monday that the claims process violates the government’s constitutional obligation to consult with Indigenous nations.

“In their legal argument in our case, BC has the audacity to say that giving away mineral rights in our territory does not trigger the duty to consult. We disagree with that,” she said before the court hearing began.

“It is time for the BC government to walk the talk by putting an end to this practice of granting mineral rights without consultation or consent from Indigenous nations in British Columbia.”

The nation based on BC’s northern coast filed a petition for judicial review in October 2021.

It is asking the court to quash seven mineral claims on Banks Island, south of Prince Rupert, and for the court to suspend claims staking in its territory. It also claims BC’s mineral grant regime doesn’t allow the First Nation to use or develop the land.

Jessica Clogg of West Coast Environmental Law, who is representing the nation, said the automatic grant for mineral claims breaches the Crown’s constitutional duty to consult and accommodate Gitxaała.

“The reality is that the Mineral Tenure Act regime results in Indigenous Peoples being dispossessed of critical aspects of their title and rights to resources without any consultation or consent, which is clearly contrary to the articles of UNDRIP.”

UNDRIP, or the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, was passed into law in BC in 2019.

Clogg said Gitxaala believes the court can and should declare the practice inconsistent with the UN declaration.

The Ehttesaht First Nation on Vancouver Island filed a similar judicial review challenging mineral claims in its territories in June last year.

The nations agreed that their two cases could be heard at the same time.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 3, 2023.

Brieanna Charlebois, The Canadian Press