OP-ED: B.C.'s latest Indigenous outrage threatens freedom of contract
Peter Best writes, "A B.C. lawsuit by Metlakatla First Nation could upend the sanctity of private contracts in Canada."
By: Peter Best
Peter Best, a retired lawyer, lives in Sudbury, Ontario. The original, longer version of this story first appeared in C2CJournal.ca.
Last year, in Cowichan Tribes v. Canada, a B.C. court pulled the rug out from under property rights across Canada by declaring aboriginal title to be a “senior and prior interest” when compared to the fee simple status that forms the bedrock of Canadian property ownership. Now, Metlakatla First Nation v. Prince Rupert Port Authority (PRPA) threatens the same sort of damage to contract law.
The lawsuit turns on the validity of contracts signed by PRPA, which owns and operates the port at Prince Rupert in northern B.C. In 2015, PRPA entered into a development agreement with the Ridley Island Energy Export Facility, or REEF, to export propane from the port. As is common commercial practice, REEF negotiated exclusive rights to handle propane at Prince Rupert, with the specifics of this arrangement to be kept confidential.
