Judgments

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T-2330-75
Raymond Cardinal, Chief, and Edward Morin, Charles Cowan, Romeo Morin, Alex Peacock and Alphonse Thomas, Counsellors of the Enoch Band of the Stony Plain Indians for Themselves and on behalf of the Enoch Band of the Stony Plain Indians Reserve No. 135 and the Enoch Band of the Stony Plain Indians Reserve No. 135 (Plaintiffs)
v.
The Queen (Defendant)
Trial Division, Mahoney J.—Edmonton, April 4, 1977; Ottawa, April 18, 1977.
Practice — Federal Court Rule 474 — Motion by defendant to have general issues of liability tried in preliminary trial, followed by issues of damages and accounting tried in a subsequent trial — Not same as application to refer damages to referee, as per Rule 480 — Alternatively, Rule 474 applica tion to have three particular issues of law tried with undisput ed facts in a preliminary trial — Federal Court Rules 474, 480.
The plaintiffs' action arises out of the surrender of part of their reservation. The defendant applied for an order under Rule 474 that the issues as to liability be tried in a preliminary trial, and that the matter of damages and accounting be considered in a subsequent trial, pending the outcome of the first trial. Alternatively, the defendant applied under Rule 474, for an order that three particular issues of law, whose relevant facts were not in dispute, be considered in a preliminary trial.
Held, the motion for an order to determine the general issue of liability separately from the issues of damages and account ing is denied. Rule 474(1)(a) is not intended to achieve the same thing as Rule 480—the deferral of the trial of issues that will be of no consequence in the absence of liability or that may well be readily settled once liability is established. To equate all "the issues as to liability" in this action with the kind of questions of law, and for questions as to admissibility of evidence, that Rule 474 contemplates to be subject of a prelim inary determination, is to do some violence to the apparent intent of Rule 474. The Court is not asked to provide for the preliminary determination off a question of law that it has serious reason to believe will be an end to the action, but rather to provide for the determination of all the issues of law and admissibility of evidence necessary to determine liability in respect of all the issues raised in the action.
Held also, the motion for an order to determine three particular questions of law in a preliminary trial is dismissed. Although these questions could be dealt with conveniently in such a preliminary proceeding, there seems no very good reason
for doing so, since they are not the only issues and their disposition would not likely dispose of the action. Although it was represented that a final disposition of the three issues would facilitate the trial of other actions pending before the Court, it is not a matter properly to be taken into account. The plaintiffs are entitled to have their action tried on its own merits alone.
Emma Silver Mining Company v. Grant (1879) 11 Ch. D. 918; Central Canada Potash Co. Ltd. v. A.-G. of Sas- katchewan [1974] 4 W.W.R. 725, applied.
APPLICATION for order under Rule 474. COUNSEL:
A. M. Harradence, Q.C., and B. G. Nemetz for plaintiffs.
G. W. Ainslie, Q.C., and Carol Pepper for defendant.
SOLICITORS:
Harradence and Company, Calgary, for plaintiffs.
Deputy Attorney General of Canada for defendant.
The following are the reasons for order ren dered in English by
MAHONEY J.: This is an action arising out of the surrender, in May, 1908, of approximately ten square miles of Reserve No. 135, near Edmonton, Alberta.
The cause of action is founded on allegations of:
1. Breach or breaches of an express trust creat ed by the Indian Act' in effect at the relevant time.
2. Breach or breaches of a fiduciary relation ship between the plaintiffs and their predecessors in title and the defendant, her predecessors in title and servants and agents for the time being.
3. Non-compliance with mandatory provisions of the Act with the result that the purported surrender was a nullity and void ab initio.
4. A mistake of fact or of mixed law and fact, common to the parties, upon which the surrender proceeded.
' R.S.C. 1886, c. 43 or R.S.C. 1906, c. 81, as amended.
As to 1 and 2, particulars of the breaches of trust and fiduciary relationship are identical. They are set out in paragraph 6 of the amended state ment of claim and the amended particulars filed by the plaintiffs in respect thereof pursuant to an order of this Court made May 20, 1976. As to 3 and, I take it, 4, the particulars are set out in paragraph 7 of the statement of claim.
The examination for discovery of the plaintiff, Edward Morin, who was agreed to be the appro priate person to be examined on behalf of the plaintiff Band, establishes that all of the material facts relied on by the plaintiffs are set forth in their pleadings and all of their evidence is docu mentary. The schedule to the plaintiffs' list of documents comprises over 43 foolscap pages. The defendant admits all but three letters from a Rev. Tessier to the Hon. Frank Oliver, then Minister of the Interior and Superintendent General of Indian Affairs, while reserving her right to object to their admissibility as evidence in the cause. The three letters must be proved.
The plaintiffs seek a variety of declaratory orders giving effect to the allegations of the trust or fiduciary relationship, the fact that the surren der was null and void ab initio and that it was obtained through undue influence, fraud and gross breach of trust. They then seek $50,000,000 com pensation for breach of trust or, alternatively, general damages in that amount. They also seek accountings of the proceeds of the sale and in connection with all matters relating to the sale as well as costs.
The defendant now applies, in Part I of her motion, for an order that the issues as to liability be tried as a preliminary issue and that, depending on the result, the issues of damages and accounting be tried later in such manner as may be directed by the Trial Judge. I should have no doubt as to my jurisdiction to achieve something of this result if the defendant's motion were framed so as to fall
within Rule 480 2 . However, the defendant plainly is not asking for a reference of the damages and accounting to a referee. In the expression adopted during argument, she wants to "split the trial". The plaintiffs question my jurisdiction to grant the order sought and the defendant asserts that it is a proper order under Rule 474.
Rule 474. (1) The Court may, upon application, if it deems it expedient so to do,
(a) determine any question of law that may be relevant to the decision of a matter, or
(b) determine any question as to the admissibility of any evidence (including any document or other exhibit),
and any such determination shall be final and conclusive for the purposes of the action subject to being varied upon appeal.
(2) Upon application, the Court may give directions as to the case upon which a question to be decided under paragraph (1) shall be argued.
The decision of Jessel M.R., in Emma Silver Mining Company v. Grant 3 has been cited with approval in almost every subsequent reported case where such a motion has been seriously considered.
In a case of this kind my opinion is that the Judge must have some evidence which will make it at least probable that the issue will put an end to the action. The Plaintiff is not to be harassed at the instance of the Defendant by a series of trials, each trial taking issue on every link of the Plaintiff's case. That is not the meaning of the rule as I understand it, but it may properly be applied in such a case as that I have stated, where the Judge has serious reason to believe that the trial of the issue will put an end to the action.
2 Rule 480. (1) Any party desiring to proceed to trial with out adducing evidence upon any issue of fact including, without limiting the generality thereof,
(a) any question as to the extent of the infringement of any right,
(b) any question as to the damages flowing from any infringement of any right, and
(c) any question as to the profits arising from any infringe ment of any right,
shall, at least 10 days before the day fixed for the commence ment of trial, apply for an order that such issue of fact be, after trial, the subject of a reference under Rules 500 et seq. if it then appears that such issue requires to be decided.
(2) An order of the kind contemplated by paragraph (1) may be made at any time before or during trial and may be made by the Court of its own motion.
3 (1879) 11 Ch. D. 918 at 927.
The applicable Rule considered by Jessel M.R., while apparently serving the same purpose as Rule 474, is quite different in terminology'. It is, how ever, very similar to Saskatchewan Rule 264, which Bence C.J.Q.B. felt did not give him juris diction to do precisely what the defendant is now asking me to do 5 . Since neither party in that case questioned his jurisdiction, the learned Chief Jus tice decided the application on its merits and his refusal to split the trial as between quantum of damages and other issues was upheld by the Court of Appeal 6 , without reference to the matter of jurisdiction.
Rule 474(1)(a) is not intended to achieve the same thing as is Rule 480—the deferral of the trial of issues that will be of no consequence in the absence of liability or that may well be readily settled once liability is established. The practical benefits of such a procedure in an appropriate case, from all points of view, are self-evident. To equate, as the defendant does here, all "the issues as to liability" in this action with the kind of questions of law, and/or questions as to admissibil ity of evidence, that Rule 474 contemplates be subject of a preliminary determination, is to do some violence to the apparent intent of Rule 474. I am not asked to provide for the preliminary deter mination of a question of law that I have serious reason to believe will be an end to the action, but rather to provide for the determination of all of the issues of law and admissibility of evidence neces sary to determine liability in respect of all of the issues raised in the action.
Part I of the defendant's motion must be dis missed. Part II is advanced in the alternative. Part
4 Rules of Court, 1875, Order XXXVI, rule 6(1):
(1) The Court or a Judge may, in any action at any time or from time to time, order that different questions of fact arising therein be tried by different modes of trial, or that one or more questions of fact be tried before the others, and may appoint the place or places for such trial or trials, and in all cases may order that one or more issues of fact be tried before any other or others.
Central Canada Potash Co. Ltd. v. A.-G. of Saskatchewan
[1974] 4 W.W.R. 725.
6 [1974] 6 W.W.R. 374.
II A is founded on Rule 474 but instead of seeking simply to have all the issues of liability, generally described, tried and decided as a preliminary issue before the issue of damages or accounting, it is directed to three particular issues of law, in respect of which the relevant facts are not in dispute in view of admissions. These issues are:
1. Was the surrender valid under subsection 49(1) of the Act as, while it was approved by a majority of those members of the Band who did vote, it was not approved by a majority of the members of the Band entitled to vote?
2. Was the certification of the surrender by one principal man only sufficient compliance with subsection 49(3) of the Act?
3. Prior to their surrender, was King Edward VII trustee of the lands for the benefit of the Band members under an express trust constitut ed by the Act and provisions of Treaty No. 6?
While I am reasonably satisfied that these ques tions could conveniently be dealt with in such a preliminary proceeding, there seems no very good reason for doing so, since they are not the only issues and their disposition would not likely dispose of the action. The Court cannot ignore a general awareness of the provisions made by the Govern ment of Canada to finance the plaintiffs' legal action to assert the claims herein. There is no good reason to think that a final disposition of anything but all the issues as to liability and, if liability be found, as to remedies raised in the action will dispose of it. I have seriously considered the representation that a final disposition of the three issues would facilitate the trial of other actions pending before the Court but have concluded that is not a matter properly to be taken into account. The plaintiffs are entitled to have their action tried on its own merits alone.
Part II B seeks to define the evidence upon which the questions in Part II A are to be answered and requires no further comment.
Part II C seeks
... an order pursuant to Rule 474(1)(b) of the Rules of Practice of this Honourable Court that the issue as to the admissibility of evidence, in relation to the surrender of other lands by other bands of Indians in Western Canada, including the admissibility at trial of the documents put to Herbert Taylor Vergette, on his examination for discovery, and marked for identification, be set down and tried as a preliminary issue in this action before the trial of the action;
That wording is very peculiar since what the defendant sought and what the plaintiffs opposed throughout several hours of argument was not that the question of the admissibility of similar facts be set down and tried as a preliminary issue but rather an order that such evidence be excluded. When I pointed this out, counsel for the defendant sought to amend the notice of motion and the plaintiffs' counsel refused consent. I declined to permit the amendment at that stage but I am entirely satisfied that the plaintiffs were not misled and put at any disadvantage by what happened. They were prepared to, and did, oppose what was actually sought and not what, read literally, the notice of motion sought. It was not until I called attention to the apparent anomaly that plaintiffs' counsel objected to, as distinct from opposed, an order going excluding evidence of similar facts. The substantive question of the admissibility of that evidence had also to be dealt with in the plaintiffs' concurrent motion seeking re-attendance of the defendant's officer at his examination for discovery. In the result, I see no prejudice or disadvantage to the plaintiffs in my dealing with what the parties themselves obviously intended to deal and thought they were dealing with rather than dealing with the notice of motion literally, and I see nothing but waste in not doing so.
The matters in issue are all defined by the pleadings. Evidence as to similar facts is not rele vant to any of them. The circumstances surround ing the surrender of other lands, either from Reserve No. 135 in 1902, or from other reserva tions and, in particular, from the St. Peter's Reserve, near Selkirk, Manitoba, in September, 1907, have no bearing on whether the express trust or fiduciary relationship alleged here existed. They have no bearing on whether there was some one or more failures to comply with mandatory provisions of the Act in this instance. As to the alleged
breaches of the trust or fiduciary relationship, the facts are all to be proved by documents admitted by the defendant who alleges nothing in defence that would render evidence of similar facts admis sible in rebuttal.
I consider it expedient to deal with the question of admissibility of evidence by way of a prelim inary determination under Rule 474 because of the apparent oppressive burden that would be imposed on the defendant if it were required to produce the documents relating to the 90 odd other surrenders that occurred in Western Canada prior to World War I and the great waste involved in both parties dealing with such a mass of material for no useful purpose in so far as this action is concerned. I am indebted to counsel for the information that some 3,000 documents have been produced in connec tion with this claim alone.
Part II D is simply another facet of Part II C, namely an order, under Rule 476 7 , for the deter mination of the relevance to the issues herein of the other surrenders, before deciding whether the defendant's officer should be examined for discov ery in respect of them.
Part II E seeks an order requiring Edward Morin to re-attend at his own expense to be re examined a second time and Part II F seeks an order requiring answers to specific questions previ ously put to him. It should, perhaps, be empha sized that these, as all Part II motions, are made in the alternative to the Part I motion which was predicated, inter alia, on the parties foregoing further examinations for discovery.
7 Rule 476. Without limiting the generality of Rule 474 or 475, if the party from whom discovery of any kind or inspection is sought objects to the same or any part thereof, the Court, if satisfied that the right to the discovery or inspection sought depends on the determination of any issue or question in dispute in the action, or that for any other reason it is desirable that any issue or question in dispute should be determined before deciding upon the right to the discovery or inspection, may order that such issue or question be determined first.
The - problem with Morin's answers to questions put to him is that, either personally or by his counsel, he responds to proper questions as to what facts are being relied on in support of this or that cause of action with the reply that he is relying on the documents, that is, some one or more, or something in one or more, of the 3,000. Strictly speaking that is not good enough; the duty of a person being examined for discovery to inform himself is so clear as to require no elaboration. Practically, in the circumstances, it may be about as good as can reasonably be expected. The dilem ma is illustrated by the following exchange be tween counsel, Mr. Harradence for the plaintiffs, Mr. Ainslie for the defendant, at pages 56 and 57 of the transcript of Morin's examination:
355 MR. HARRADENCE:... Now, our position is simply this, that we're relying on your documents to establish the inducement. And by inducement, I mean the whole gen eral picture, and the position I'm taking is that the witness ought not to be at this stage forced to read these documents and then interpret them. Our position is that if these documents are relevant and admissible, then whatever probative value will be attached to them will have to be done by the presiding Justice and our position is that we will tell you what we know about the matters personally as we have done, but we will not comment further upon these documents unless ordered to do so by a Judge.
356 MR. AINSLIE: Thank you, Mr. Harradence. I have not asked the witness to comment on any documents. Your position, as I understand it, is any inducement by the defendant to sell the lands was improper, is that correct?
357 MR. HARRADENCE: Yes, sir.
358 MR. AINSLIE: Mr. Morin, could you just, in your own words, tell me what inducements the plaintiffs say were made by, the defendant?
359 MR. HARRADENCE: Mr. Ainslie, we say we have given you those answers.
360 MR. AINSLIE: The question has not been answered.
361 MR. HARRADENCE: Well, my position is that it has.
362 MR. AINSLIE: So you're instructing the witness not to answer the question?
363 MR. HARRADENCE: Yes, sir, I am, on the grounds that he has already answered, and to do more would require the reading of these documents.
The defendant is entitled to a further general examination for discovery and there is no basis I can see for my refusing this order; however before granting it, I propose to ask the defendant to give some consideration to the utility of the exercise
and, perhaps, to whether interrogatories might not serve better so that the plaintiffs would have - the time necessary to extract specifics from the mas sive documentation.
The plaintiffs are on notice as to the particular questions enumerated in Part II F. If a general re-examination is ordered under Part II F, Morin should be prepared to answer all those questions except Nos. 405, 413, 795, 797, 799 and 802. In the alternative, should the defendant opt for inter rogatories, and the Court approve, the other ques tions may be dealt with therein.
I propose to adjourn Parts II E and F of the motion sine die with leave to the defendant to again bring them on with two days notice to the plaintiffs. I now turn to the plaintiffs' motion requiring the re-attendance of the defendant's offi cer, Herbert Taylor Vergette, at his examination for discovery.
In addition to (1) seeking answers to specific questions, the plaintiffs ask (2) an order that in so far as those questions request searches for further documents, those searches be ordered. They ask (3) for a declaration that the issues raised in questions 945 to 948 are relevant and compelling Vergette to inform himself thereon; the defendant consents to this declaration and order going and also to (4) an order under Rule 448 that the defendant file an affidavit verifying its list of documents. As to the affidavit, the plaintiffs ask, and the defendant does not consent, (5) that it disclose all documents (and that Vergette inform himself and answer questions or re-attendance) in the areas of (A) the practice of the Crown relative to the obtaining of consent of Indian Bands to surrenders between 1887 and 1945; (B) all surren ders or attempts to obtain surrenders of reserve lands held, under the 1886 Act and its successors, in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and the Northwest Territories, which were initiated by the Crown during the tenure of Hon. Frank Oliver as Superintendent General of Indian Affairs; (C) all legal opinions received by the Department of Indian Affairs relative to the formalities necessary to obtain a valid surrender for sale of Indian lands from 1887 to 1945 and (D) those relating to
questions not answered and, as a result of this application, ordered to be answered.
As to the matters embraced in Item 5(A) and (B), the application is denied, for reasons that need not be repeated, on the ground that evidence as to similar facts will not be admissible at the trial. Item 5(C) is denied; the opinion, from time to time, of legal advisers as to a question of law is irrelevant to the issue. Item 5(D) and Item 2 may conveniently be dealt with together after Item 1. Items 3 and 4 being consented to, orders will go.
In view of my conclusion that evidence as to similar facts will not be admissible at the trial, Item 1 of the plaintiffs application is dismissed as to the following questions:
(i) 103, 104, 116, 586, 587, 625, 626, 627, 633, 818 to 821, 844 and 848, 1286 to 1299, which relate to the government's general policies and practices with respect to surrenders of reserve lands;
(ii) 515 and 1276 to 1285, which relate to a 1902 surrender of part of Reserve No. 135;
(iii) 795 to 800, 802 to 810, 817 and 842, which relate to a surrender of a portion of the Blood Reserve near Cardston, Alberta;
(iv) 873, 874, 1017 to 1033 and 1035 to 1114, which relate to the surrender of the St. Peter's Reserve near Selkirk, Manitoba, a subsequent Commission of Inquiry into it and the events that ensued thereon;
(v) 914 to 916, 919, 923, 934 to 937, 939, 951, 954, 959 to 962, 964 to 967, 969, 970, 973, 975, 976, 978 to 983, 985 and 988, which relate to a surrender of reserve lands by the Seshart Band on Vancouver Island, defects perceived by the government, and the events that ensued thereon;
The following questions all ask the defendant to admit documents that have already been admitted, to identify who signed or authorized their issue,
which appears immaterial in view of the fact of their admission, and as to the interpretation of or conclusion to be drawn from their rather ordinary language in the light of applicable provisions of the Indian Act:
121, 126, 128, 136, 150, 186, 196, 206, 217,
304, 309, 312, 522, 528, 589, 843 and 845,
and Item 1 of the plaintiffs' application is dis missed as to them.
In view of the defendant's admission that the surrender in issue was not assented to by a majori ty of the members of the Enoch Band entitled to vote but merely by a majority of those who did vote, Item 1 of the application is dismissed as to the following questions:
(i) 607 to 610, 942 and 943, which seek to verify what has been admitted;
(ii) 614, 615, 634 to 642, 644 to 647, 650, 657 to 665, 669, 670, 672 to 676, 681, 683 to 690, 738, 740 to 742, 856 to 861, 863, 865 to 869, 880 to 889, 893 to 896, which relate to the government's policy from time to time as to the correct legal interpretation of the word "majori- ty" in the pertinent section of the Act;
(iii) 709, 711 to 714, 718, 719, 724, 726, 733, 755 to 762, 764, 767, 770, 775, 779, 780, 784 to 786, 789 to 792, 822 to 828, 832 and 841, which relate to possible action, including amendment of the Act, that would have removed any doubt that practice and correct legal interpretation were not in conformity; and
(iv) 991, 993 to 1003, 1007, 1008, 1010, 1011 and 1014, which relate to the policy formed and action taken in this area in 1939.
The affidavit accepted by the Governor in Council proving the surrender of the subject lands is admitted by the defendant. Whether it was sufficient in view of the mandatory provisions of the Act and the consequences of its insufficiency, if that be found, are pure questions of law. Accordingly, Item 1 of the plaintiffs' application is dismissed as to the following questions:
691 to 698, 703, 704, 706 to 708, 899, 900, 903, 904, 910, 912 and 913.
I find nothing in the material before me that would indicate the relevance to the issues of the government's practice or policy, or lack thereof, of
providing independent legal representation to an Indian Band in connection with a proposed surren der. Accordingly Item 1 of the motion is dismissed as to questions 811 to 814 and 816. Likewise, there is nothing to indicate the relevance of any action or lack of action by the government following a debate in the House of Commons March 22, 1911 and the motion is dismissed as to questions 1115 and 1120 to 1137. No. 1139 was answered.
The defendant is not answerable in law for the actions or opinions of private citizens who are not her servants or agents. A private Member of Par liament is a private citizen in that sense, not a servant or agent of the Crown. Item 1 of the plaintiffs' application is dismissed as to the follow ing questions because, for the above reason, they are not properly to be put to the defendant on examination for discovery:
1141, 1143, 1144, 1145, 1147, 1148, 1150, 1152 to 1155, 1157, 1159, 1160, 1161, 1163, 1165, 1167 to 1183, 1185 to 1188, 1193 to 1198, 1201 to 1205, 1208 to 1214, 1218 to 1223, 1225, 1226, 1231 to 1234, 1246 to 1249, 1251 to 1257, 1259, 1260, 1264, 1266, 1268 to 1271 and 1273.
Question 420 seeks the answer to, who paid the charges for a collect telegram sent June 28, 1908 from one J. A. Markle in Gleichen, Alberta to the Department of Indian Affairs in Ottawa. It also seeks the significance of the number "327569" stamped on the copy produced by the plaintiffs. The materiality of who paid the charges and infor mation as to the significance of that number is not immediately apparent to me; however, the cost of getting the information some 70 years after the event is obvious. Item 1 of the plaintiffs' motion is dismissed as to question 420.
Question 457 asks for an interpretation of or an admission of something in a document not admit ted by the defendant and is not proper. The docu ment is one of the letters from Rev. Tessier to Hon. Frank Oliver.
The defendant's objection to answering the fol lowing questions obviously stems from a view, contrary to the plaintiffs', of the inferences proper ly to be drawn from the government offering, in advance of the surrender in issue, to make avail able out of the proceeds of sale of the surrendered lands, or otherwise, certain provisions, horses and equipment. I cannot, at this juncture, hold that evidence in this area would necessarily be inad missible or irrelevant. Item 1 of the plaintiffs' application is granted as to questions 506, 509, 1309 to 1313 and 1316 to 1318 on the basis that such questions are directed to the surrender in issue and not to similar facts.
Similarly, I cannot at this point, hold that evi dence as to the activities of Rev. John McDougall in an attempt to obtain a surrender from the Enoch Band in November, 1907, would be inad missible or irrelevant to the surrender in issue provided, of course, he was acting for the Crown therein. Accordingly, questions 1300 to 1306 should be answered. Assuming that 1307 relates to those immediately before it, it also should be answered. Question 1308 is, to the extent it is not argumentative, merely repetitious of 1301.
In accordance with Items 2 and 5(D), docu ments pertinent to the questions ordered to be answered should be produced.
The costs of both applications will be in the cause.
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