Grand Chief Peter Johnston of the Council of Yukon First Nations can’t see how last week’s court decision favouring the Teslin Tlingit Council won’t apply to the territory’s other 10 self-governing First Nations.

Johnston said in an interview last Friday he can’t see how the Government of Canada could deny the other First Nations the benefit of the declaration by Justice Ron Veale of the Yukon Supreme Court.

“How could they discriminate who is going to get the benefit of this one?” Johnston asked. “We all have the same agreements.”

Chief Sharon Nelson of the Selkirk First Nation also believes Veale’s decision will apply across the board.

“It is a big win for all the self-governing First Nations, and the ones who are at the table right now,” she said last week.

“We have had that debate with them for years, and now this court decision basically has solidified what we have been saying for years.”

Veale ruled that Canada is in breach of a legal commitment to negotiate the financial transfer agreement with Teslin based on all of its citizens – those defined by the federal Indian Act as status and the non-status citizens of the First Nation.

Teslin sued the federal government a year ago, claiming Ottawa insisted on negotiating the financial transfer agreement (FTA) based only on the number of status Indians registered as Teslin Tlingit citizens. There was no provision for 25 per cent of the citizens who do not have status, the Tlingit Council argued.

During the three days of submissions in court last month, Teslin argued Canada has essentially refused to negotiate based on the entire citizenship since the First Nation’s land claim and self-government agreements came into effect in 1995.

Their agreements, the Tlingits argued, clearly state negotiations are to be based on their citizenship list – all citizens.

Justice Veale declared Canada has a legal obligation to negotiate the transfer agreement based on the entire citizenship list of the Tlingit Council, but has failed to do so.

In his decision, Veale wrote “the declaration requires Canada to address the demographic issue before the expiry of the FTA on March 31, 2019.”

Even Veale expressed a degree of puzzlement during the trial, suggesting he’d thought the issue of status and non-status had been sort out years ago with the signing of land claim and self-governments agreements.

The office of federal Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett has yet to provide a response to the decision, nor has it indicated whether it will appeal Veale’s decision. It has 30 days from Jan. 15 to decide whether to appeal.

The grand chief – also a former chief of the Teslin Tlingit Council – said if the federal government appeals the decision, its argument won’t hold any water.

What Canada needs to focus on is being prepared to go to the negotiating table in light of the decision, he said.

Johnston noted Chief Richard Sidney of the Tlingit Council has indicated Teslin is ready to go; that it has all of its numbers.

The court heard Canada has had a copy of Teslin’s proposal for a new transfer agreement since September 2017, but has not provided any official response.

The Tlingit Council maintains Canada is short tens of millions of dollars in what the First Nation would consider an acceptable annual financial transfer.

That applies to all the First Nations, Johnston said.

He pointed out the self-government agreements says the level of funding must be sufficient to allow the First Nations to provide services comparable to the level of services provided by other levels of government in the Yukon.

There are some First Nations which had been affected more than Teslin by the federal government’s refusal to recognize non-status citizens in the funding formula, the grand chief said.

Johnston said one First Nation has closer to 50 per cent of its citizenship made up of non-status members.

The Selkirk chief said when there is insufficient funding, it creates a particular hardship for the First Nation because it still has to provide services to all its citizens, status and non-status.

It’s time for Canada to get on with fulfilling its requirement to provide financial transfer agreements that are negotiated fairly, she said.

Nelson said they don’t want to just keep extending inadequate transfer agreements just because Canada refuses to negotiate based on citizenship.

“We have done that a few times already,” the chief said. “We want to negotiate a new financial transfer agreement.”

The transfer agreements for seven of the 11 self-governing Yukon First Nations expire March 31. The other four will expire on March 31, 2020.