The period 2023-2025 has produced several of the most consequential Canadian recognitions of Aboriginal and Treaty rights since the patriation of the Constitution in 1982. The Supreme Court of Canada released three landmark decisions in 2024 that affirm the spirit and intent of Aboriginal and Treaty rights: Reference re An Act respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families (2024 SCC 5), confirming Indigenous inherent jurisdiction recognized under section 35; Shot Both Sides v. Canada (2024 SCC 12), addressing Treaty 7 implementation; and most significantly, Ontario (Attorney General) v. Restoule (2024 SCC 27), which has been characterized by legal commentators as the most important Supreme Court decision on treaty interpretation since Marshall (1999) and which affirms the Anishinaabe interpretation of the Robinson Treaties as living agreements rooted in the principles of respect, responsibility, reciprocity, and renewal.
On the legislative side, British Columbia’s Haida Nation Recognition Amendment Act, 2024 (royal assent May 16, 2024) is the first legislation in Canadian history to formally recognize Aboriginal title outside of a court order. The federal Haida Nation Recognition Act (Bill S-16, royal assent November 7, 2024) is its federal counterpart, recognizing the Haida Nation’s inherent rights of governance and self-determination and the Council of the Haida Nation as the government of the Haida Nation under federal law. These developments build on the foundational scaffolding of section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (UNDA, 2021), the UNDA Action Plan (2023), the 2019 Recognition and Reconciliation of Rights Policy for Treaty Negotiations in British Columbia (discussed in parallel assessments of Calls 33 and 34), and An Act respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families (Bill C-92, in force January 1, 2020).
