Blood tribe to take taxation to Supreme Court

The Blood tribe will seek leave to the Supreme Court after the Court of Appeal ruled that the Crown does not have a duty to advise the band on whether it would be subject to taxation due to the government’s obligations in providing services to all Canadians. The dispute stems from a decision 14 years ago when the band developed a plan to purchase the Parkland oil refinery in Bowden and convert the site into reserve land. To go ahead with the refinery project, the band sought assurance from the Crown that any production of oil would be exempt from federal excise tax under the Indian Act. That assurance was not given, so in 2005 the Blood Tribe sued the federal government alleging breach of fiduciary duty and unjust enrichment. Even if the Crown did have some obligation to assist with the commercial venture, the Court of Appeal said in Blood Tribe v. Canada (Attorney General) (2012), that it “was not obliged to agree with the position of the Blood Tribe that the product of the proposed refinery operation was exempt from excise tax pursuant to section 87 of the Indian Act.” The question, said Blood Tribe counsel John Beckman in www.lawyersweekly.ca, “is whether the federal Crown has a duty to assist us in finding out what the law is. And unfortunately for me and the band at this point, the Court of Appeal has said no, they don’t.”