Arend Hoekstra has been quoted in the article “Blood Tribe Reserve Ruling Draws Distinction on Treaty Rights,” published by the Financial Post.
Writes Julius Melnitzer: “First Nations seeking to enforce treaty rights must commence their claims within the applicable limitation periods in provincial and federal legislation, even if the treaty rights arose before Aboriginal rights were enshrined in the Constitution Act of 1982, according to a Federal Court of Appeal ruling earlier this year.”
Says Arend believes the FCA’s decision is correct. “The Court of Appeal recognized that the Federal Court had overstepped its boundaries by failing to follow precedent in favour of carving its own path in terms of fairness. While there’s some unfairness in the result on appeal, a decision to the contrary would have created a larger injustice by injecting uncertainty into the jurisprudence.”