On April 7 the Lax Kw’alaams First Nation filed a court document with its response to the claims made by Kitkatla in the case involving Kitkatla, the City of Prince Rupert and the band over the sale of Watson Island.
In it Chief Councillor Garry Reece, on behalf of himself and the Lax Kw'alaams, says the crown owes no duty to consult with or accommodate the Gitxaala nation “at all in relation to activities in the Prince Rupert area”.
“The Gitxaala have never asserted a credible claim to Aboriginal title or rights in the Prince Rupert area sufficient to give rise to a constitutional duty to consult. Prior to 2004, the Gitxaala if not assert any claim to the Prince Rupert area as its traditional territory at all. Such claims are recently invented and do not meet the legal test for consultation,” reads the document.
“The asserted claim that the Gitxaala make in respect to the Watson Island site or to any potential adverse impact upon Aboriginal rights or title in the Prince Rupert area is such a weak claim that it attracts at most a duty of notice, and the Gitxaala have had such notice. The Gitxaala claim of a duty by the City of Prince Rupert to consult with them and accommodate their claims is spurious and without any legal merit.”
A major part of the claim that the Gitxaala have no rights over the Prince Rupert harbour is Lax Kw’alaams argument that Aboriginal title is exclusive and that the land was occupied prior to the Crown’s assertion of sovereignty with continuous occupation thereafter. Lax Kw’alaams says the traditional territory of the Gitxaala Nation “was limited to areas south of the mouth of the Skeena River” prior to 2004.
“The Gitxaala do not have a credible claim to Aboriginal rights or title in the Prince Rupert area,” reads the filing.