OTTAWA, July 6, 2012 /CNW/ - The Specific Claims Tribunal/Tribunal des revendications particulières Canada has released its first decision - in the case of Osoyoos Band v. Canada.
In the decision, Harry Slade, the Tribunal Chairperson, concluded:
"The Osoyoos Band has established a breach of legal obligation arising from the Crown's administration of reserve lands by failing to act on its duty to exercise its title on the abandonment of the line of rail over the Right of Way Land for the use and benefit of the Band as reserve."
The issue of monetary compensation will be determined in a future decision.
The decision, now posted on the Tribunal's website [http://www.sct-trp.ca], marks the first decision by the Tribunal since it opened for the filing of Specific Claims on June 1st, 2011. To date, twenty-three claims have been filed and are in various stages of pre-hearing procedures. There are in excess of four hundred claims eligible for filing with the Tribunal.
The Specific Claims Tribunal is an independent adjudicative body, established by the Government of Canada in consultation with the Assembly of First Nations. Tribunal members are drawn from the independent judiciary. The Tribunal exercises its jurisdiction under the Specific Claims Tribunal Act. Its decisions are binding on the Claimant and the Crown, unique among common law jurisdictions.
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