Appeal dates set

The Federal Court of Appeal has set aside a total of 15 days over four consecutive weeks to hear oral arguments in the Samson Cree Nation's breach of treaty and trust proceedings against Canada. The court will hear the arguments Oct. 16 to 19, Oct. 23 to 26, Oct. 30 and 31, and in November from the sixth to the tenth. The appeal is from the judgement of Federal Court Justice Max Teitelbaum issued Dec. 2, 2005 after four-and-a-half years of hearings. The justice ruled against the Samson Cree Nation, which is now asking the court of appeal to reverse Teitelbaum's decision in its entirety and award the nation not less than $650 million. The Samson appeal states that the trial judge made numerous and serious errors of law and fact, and unjustifiably discounted evidence of all the Aboriginal witnesses and relied only on the federal government's account of the making of Treaty 6. Due to the size and complexity of the appeal the court has extended the number of days of argument and permitted the parties to substantially exceed the number of pages normally permitted for a memorandum of fact and law.

At trial Samson lawyers attempted to prove that the federal government, acting as trustee oil and gas royalties, had mismanaged the funds. Samson contends in the appeal that Teitelbaum "declined to pronounce upon almost two years of evidence from some of the most prominent and respected financial experts in Canada. Instead he relided entirely on the Indian Act, described at trial by four former ministers of Indian Affairs as oppressive, archaic, discriminatory and colonial." Samson also contends that the conduct of the judge over the course of the trial and his opinion "raise a reasonable apprehension of bias."

Said Samson Cree Nation Chief Victor Buffalo: "Although we have many concerns about the Canadian judicial system, our Elders have taught us that we must never give up the fight for our treaty rights. We are hopeful that this appeal will be a significant step forward in the recognition of our rights."