Event21 May 2026Action

Supreme Court of Canada agrees to hear B.C.'s appeal in the Gitxaała case on DRIPA and the mineral claims regime

On 21 May 2026, the Supreme Court of Canada granted British Columbia (the Chief Gold Commissioner) leave to appeal the B.C. Court of Appeal's judgment of 5 December 2025 (2025 BCCA 430) in the case brought by the Gitxaała Nation and the Ehattesaht First Nation. That ruling found that B.C.'s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act incorporated the UN Declaration into provincial law, and that the mineral claims registration system was inconsistent with it. As is usual, the court gave no reasons for granting leave. The court's registrar later set filing deadlines running to November 2026, with the hearing date to be confirmed. As of 29 September 2026, the court's online docket showed no hearing date. RAVEN, a charity that raises funds for Gitxaała's case, said it expects the appeal to be heard in 2027.

Date

21 May 2026

Kind

Court ruling

Where

British Columbia

Evidence

Action: Something was done: a law switched on, a tariff imposed, money committed. How evidence is weighed

Who

Government of British Columbia (acted); Gitxaała Nation (counterparty); Ehattesaht First Nation (counterparty); RAVEN (Respecting Aboriginal Values & Environmental Needs) (subject); Wilburforce Foundation (Seattle) (subject); Impact Fund (Berkeley, CA) (subject); Supreme Court of Canada (acted)

Sources

• RAVEN, “Gitxaała Nation (RAVEN campaign page)” (external site). source record
• ProPublica, “RAVEN Form 990 filings (ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, EIN 98-0628334)” (external site). source record
• ProPublica (IRS 990), “Impact Fund 990 Schedule I, TY2022” (external site), 8 May 2024. source record
• CBC News (The Canadian Press), “Supreme Court of Canada to hear B.C. challenge over mineral rights and DRIPA” (external site), May 2026. source record
• Supreme Court of Canada, “Supreme Court of Canada case 42200 (Chief Gold Commissioner of British Columbia, et al. v. Gitxaala Nation, et al.): docket” (external site), 29 September 2026. source record

Laws and agreements

• Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (BC) (SBC 2019, c. 44 (Bill 41, 2019))

Claims that rest on this event

• SupportsMechanism

  The one-year review clock is soft (study time is excluded and extensions are allowed). What slows the build-out is First Nations lawsuits and the courts, whatever Washington intended; but in the record so far they delay projects and send approvals back more often than they stop them, and benefit agreements have ended several of the suits.

  Supreme Court will hear it.