Chris Selley: Supreme Court ruling over BC ski resort a blow to Indigenous religious rights – National Post
Considering how dubious their case is, people of all faiths might well wonder how seriously the justices take one of Canadians’ most fundamental freedoms
A 25-year battle to approve a ski resort in the Columbia Mountains of eastern British Columbia finally staggered across the finish line at the Supreme Court on Thursday. Justice Michael Moldaver concluded the plan should go ahead despite objections from the Ktunaxa Nation, some members of which believe permanent human habitation in the area would drive away a spirit bear whose presence is key to their religious practices.
Canadian courts not being “arbiter(s) of religious dogma,” as the Supreme Court put it in a landmark 2004 case, Moldaver took no issue with the claim: ski resort goes in, spirit bear moves on. As such, he reasoned, allowing the resort to go ahead would would infringe the religious freedom of the Ktunaxa “in a manner that is more than trivial or insubstantial.” Indeed, he argued, it would reduce their religious practices to “empty gestures and hollow rituals.”
