Osoyoos Indian Band v. Oliver (Town) et al., 1999 BCCA 297

• Judge: Lambert, Prowse and Newbury, JJ.A.
• Court: Court of Appeal (British Columbia)
• Case Date: May 04, 1999
• Jurisdiction: British Columbia
• Citations: 1999 BCCA 297;(1999), 122 B.C.A.C. 220 (CA)

Osoyoos Indian Band v. Oliver (1999), 122 B.C.A.C. 220 (CA);

    200 W.A.C. 220

MLB headnote and full text

Temp. Cite: [1999] B.C.A.C. TBEd. JN.005

Osoyoos Indian Band (appellant) v. The Town of Oliver and Her Majesty the Queen in Right of the Province of British Columbia (respondents)

(V03036; 1999 BCCA 297)

Indexed As: Osoyoos Indian Band v. Oliver (Town) et al.

British Columbia Court of Appeal

Lambert, Prowse and Newbury, JJ.A.

May 4, 1999.

Summary:

An Indian band made a bylaw pursuant to s. 83(1)(a) of the Indian Act for the purpose of taxing land or interests in land in its reserve. The band sought to include in the Assessment Roll and to tax the land or interest in land on which a concrete irriga­tion canal through the reserve was con­structed. Two questions were put before the Supreme Court on a stated case by the band's review board. The first question asked whether lands taken under s. 35 of the Indian Act were "land or interests in land" in a reserve of a band within s. 83(1)(a) of the Indian Act such that the lands were assessable and taxable pursuant to band assessment and taxation bylaws. The second question asked if s. 35 of the Act authorized the removal of lands from reserve status, whether the federal Order-in-Council in question, by which the lands were trans­ferred, removed the lands from reserve status so that they were not assessable and taxable by the band.

The British Columbia Supreme Court, in a decision reported in [1997] B.C.T.C. Uned. 479, answered question no. 1 in the negative and question no. 2 in the positive. The band appealed.

The British Columbia Court of Appeal, Lambert, J.A., dissenting, dismissed the appeal.

Indians, Inuit and Métis - Topic 5492

Lands - Taxation by Bands - Assessment - Lands subject to - A 1957 federal Order-in-Council consented to the "taking" of certain reserve lands by the province of British Columbia, and transferred the administration and control thereof to that province - The lands became occupied by an irrigation canal - The British Columbia Court of Appeal affirmed that the Order-in-Council contemplated an expropriation of the lands, which removed them from the reserve - Thus the lands were not taxable by the Indian band because they were not "in the reserve" within the meaning of s. 83(1)(a) of the Indian Act - See paragraphs 84 to 107.

Indians, Inuit and Métis - Topic 5561

Lands - Land claims - General - The Brit­ish Columbia Court of Appeal stated that a technical or formalistic approach was not to be taken in "adjudicating disputes relat­ing to native land rights" - Even in the context of expropriation, where such "native intentions" were much less rel­evant, a non-technical approach may be justified by the unique history and consti­tutional position of Indians in Canada - Form should generally not be permitted to "trump substance" wherever Indian inter­ests may be affected - See paragraph 93.

Cases Noticed:

Canadian Pacific Ltd. v. Paul et al., [1988] 2 S.C.R. 654; 89 N.R. 325; 91 N.B.R.(2d) 43; 232 A.P.R. 43, refd to. [paras. 29, 94].

Delgamuukw et al. v. British Columbia et al., [1997] 3 S.C.R. 1010; 220 N.R 161; 99 B.C.A.C. 161; 162 W.A.C. 161, refd to. [paras. 29, 86].

Canada v. Smith and Ontario (Attorney General) et al., [1983] 1 S.C.R. 554; 47 N.R. 132, refd to. [para. 33].

St. Mary's Indian Band et al. v. Cranbrook (City), [1997] 2 S.C.R. 657; 213 N.R. 290; 92 B.C.A.C. 161; 150 W.A.C. 161, refd to. [paras. 33, 93].

Guerin v. Canada, [1984] 2 S.C.R. 335; 55 N.R. 161, refd to. [para. 34].

Opetchesaht Indian Band et al. v. Canada et al., [1997] 2 S.C.R. 119; 211 N.R. 241; 90 B.C.A.C. 1; 147 W.A.C. 1, refd to. [paras. 36, 90].

Mitchell and Milton Management Ltd. v. Peguis Indian Band et al., [1990] 2 S.C.R. 85; 110 N.R. 241; 67 Man.R.(2d) 81, refd to. [paras. 42, 87].

Canadian Pacific Ltd. v. Matsqui Indian Band et al. (1998), 228 N.R. 378; 162 D.L.R.(4th) 649 (F.C.A.), refd to. [paras. 55, 99].

Matsqui Indian Band v. Canadian National Railway Co. - see Canadian Pacific Ltd. v. Matsqui Indian Band et al.

Nowegijick v. Minister of National Rev­enue et al., [1983] 1 S.C.R. 29; 46 N.R. 41, refd to. [para. 63].

Semiahmoo Indian Band et al. v. Canada, [1998] 1 C.N.L.R. 250; 215 N.R. 241; 148 D.L.R.(4th) 523 (F.C.A.), refd to. [para. 65].

R. v. Sparrow, [1990] 1 S.C.R. 1075; 111 N.R. 241, refd to. [paras. 65, 92].

Blueberry River Indian Band and Doig River Indian Band v. Canada (Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Develop­ment), [1995] 4 S.C.R. 344; 190 N.R. 89, refd to. [para. 66].

Blueberry River Indian Band and Doig River Indian Band v. Canada (Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Develop­ment), [1987] 4 C.N.L.R. 14; 10 F.T.R. 122 (T.D.), refd to. [para. 74].

Apsassin v. Canada (Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development) - see Blueberry River Indian Band and Doig River Indian Band v. Canada (Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Develop­ment).

Caldwell v. Catholic Schools of Vancouver Archdiocese, [1984] 2 S.C.R. 603; 56 N.R. 83, refd to. [para. 85].

Caldwell v. Stuart - see Caldwell v. Cath­olic Schools of Vancouver Archdiocese.

Caldwell v. St. Thomas Aquinas High School - see Caldwell v. Catholic Schools of Vancouver Archdiocese.

Simpson v. South Staffordshire Water­works Co. (1865), 34 L.J. (Ch.) 380, refd to. [para. 92].

Thomson v. Halifax Power Co. (1914), 16 D.L.R. 424 (N.S.C.A.), refd to. [para. 92].

Shelf Holdings Ltd. v. Husky Oil Oper­ations Ltd. and Inspector of Land Titles Offices (Alta.) (1989), 94 A.R. 241; 56 D.L.R.(4th) 193 (C.A.), leave to appeal denied (1989), 103 N.R. 85; 100 A.R. 25 (S.C.C.), consd. [para. 101].

Ellenborough Park, Re; Davies, Re; Powell v. Maddison, [1956] Ch. 131 (C.A.), refd to. [para. 101].

Reilly v. Booth (1890), 44 Ch. D. 12 (C.A.), refd to. [para. 102].

Metropolitan Railway Co. v. Fowler, [1893] A.C. 416 (H.L.), refd to. [para. 102].

Consumers' Gas Co. v. Toronto (City) (1897), 27 S.C.R. 453, refd to. [para. 102].

Jarvis v. Toronto (City) (1894), 21 O.A.R. 395, refd to. [para. 102].

Statutes Noticed:

Indian Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. I-5, sect. 35 [para. 21]; sect. 83(1)(a) [para. 20].

Water Act, R.S.B.C. 1948, c. 361, sect. 21 [para. 22].

Authors and Works Noticed:

Canada, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, Lands and Envi­ronment Branch, Lands, Revenues and Trusts, Land Management and Pro­cedures Manual (May 1988), p. 4 [para. 91].

Canada, Hansard, House of Commons Debates, vol. XIII (2nd Sess., 33rd Par­liament) (June 2, 1988), pp. 16046 [para. 48]; 16047 [paras. 48, 52].

Canada, Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (1996), generally [para. 80].

Cheshire, Modern Law of Real Property (7th Ed. 1954), p. 456 [para. 101].

Gale, The Law of Easements (16th Ed. 1997), pp. 317 to 344 [para. 74].

Halsbury's Laws of England (4th Ed.), vol. 14, para. 144 [para. 101].

Hansard, House of Commons Debates - see Canada, Hansard, House of Commons Debates.

House of Commons Debates - see Canada, Hansard, House of Commons Debates.

Jackson, Paul, The Law of Easements and Profits (1978), pp. 139 to 148, 189 to 194 [para. 74].

Lordon, Paul, Crown Law (1991), p. 283, para. 4.6.1 [para. 105].

McLean, Albert J., The Nature of an Ease­ment (1966), 5 Western L. Rev. 32, generally [para. 102].

Todd, Eric C.E., The Law of Expropriation and Compensation in Canada (2nd Ed. 1992), pp. 26 to 31 [para. 92]; 426 [para. 98].

Counsel:

J. Woodward, for the appellant, Osoyoos Indian Band;

W. Buholzer, for the respondent, Town of Oliver;

H.W. Gordon, for the respondent, Her Majesty the Queen.

This appeal was heard on September 29, 1998, at Vancouver, British Columbia, before Lambert, Prowse and Newbury, JJ.A., of the British Columbia Court of Appeal.

On May 4, 1999, the decision of the Court of Appeal was delivered and the following opinions were filed:

Lambert, J.A., dissenting - see para­graphs 1 to 83;

Newbury, J.A. (Prowse, J.A., concurring) - see paragraphs 84 to 109.