REGINA: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) today revealed that the Attorney General of British Columbia has informed the parties to Benoit v. Canada that the B.C. government plans to intervene in the landmark Indian taxation court case.

The case involves a group of natives from northern Alberta, who claimed their ancestors had been promised a total exemption from taxes when they signed Treaty 8 in 1899. The native plaintiffs successfully sued the Canadian government in Federal Court with the Alberta government and the CTF acting as interveners. On March 7, 2002 Justice Douglas Campbell ruled that Treaty 8 Indians and their descendants would never have to pay taxes ever again. The federal government has appealed the ruling which affects about 35,000 status Indians from northern Alberta, B.C., NWT, and Saskatchewan. The appeal will be heard in Ottawa from November 19-23, 2002 in the Federal Court of Appeal.

On May 24, 2002, the province of British Columbia filed a motion in the Federal Court seeking to intervene in the case in order address certain constitutional issues and outline the impact of the decision on modern day treaty and land claim negotiations in that province.

"The CTF has been involved in this case right from the get-go, and we congratulate the B.C. government for deciding to jump in with both feet. Clearly, this is an indication of the growing concern by governments and other citizens about the wide ranging consequences of the initial court ruling," states Tanis Fiss, Director of the CTF's new Victoria-based Center for Aboriginal Policy Change.

The CTF has intervened in the case to argue that the potential damage to the social, economic, and political fabric of the country caused by exempting certain individuals from the responsibility of paying taxes because of their ancestry could be enormous. The CTF believe that taxation according to racial ancestry is a violation of the equality provisions of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and if an individual is exempted from paying taxes, it should be because they are too poor to pay not because of their ancestry.

The CTF is also wondering why other provincial governments have not sought similar intervener status in the case. "No doubt this case has serious implications for other provinces like Saskatchewan, especially if the decision is ultimately extended to other treaties and other status Indians based on birthright," states CTF-Sask Director Richard Truscott. "Why has the Saskatchewan government chosen to remain silent "

Perry Bellegarde, Chief of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations, is already pushing for all of the province's 100,000 aboriginal population to be tax-free by arguing in the media that if the signatories of one treaty allege they were promised all encompassing tax exemption, the signatories of all treaties must get the same treatment.