ABORIGINAL TITLE: THE CHIPPEWAS OF SARNIA

Abstract

The unanimous decision of a 5-person panel of the Ontario Court of Appeal in The Chippewas of Sarnia Band v. Canada rejected the claim of the Band in trespass and for declaratory relief to recognise their right to reserve land. The lands had been granted to non-Indians despite the lack of a valid surrender . In the writer's view, this case was wrongly decided as it misapplied equitable principles. It is also an example of the `fusion fallacy" that there is no longer any distinction between law and equity. This fallacy would throw the law into disarray and cannot be supported.