An approximate 17-year court case involving the Whitesand Dam, the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation, the Saskatchewan government and SaskPower is headed back to the Court of Queen’s Bench.
The First Nation is seeking damages for alleged “continuous trespass” on reserve land caused by the Whitesand Dam near Southend. 600 acres are in question.
The province and SaskPower are trying to argue the area became Crown land under the Northern Resources Transfer Agreement of 1930.
In 2019, a Queen’s Bench Chambers judge ruled that Southend was indeed land transferred from Ottawa to the province, dismissing the argument that Southend was a reserve.
“The Chambers judge erred in his conclusion that PBCN could not sustain a claim in trespass because Southend is not a reserve. He also erred when he held that Saskatchewan and SaskPower had defences to PBCN’s claim based on the 1939 consent,” wrote Justice Robert Leurer last week.
In a 2016 Appeals ruling, the argument made by SaskPower in the trespassing issue was that PBCN “gave irrevocable consent to the construction of the dam,” but the justices indicated that aspect must be tried.