Hub Staff

On Monday, May 21, Justice Vella of the Ontario Superior Court issued a decision on the legal costs to be paid to Saugeen First Nation (SFN), following its successful lawsuit to prove ownership of Chi-Gmiinh, also known as North Sauble Beach.

In a May 22 release from SFN, Justice Vella determined that SFN should recover $3.22 million in legal costs and expenses from the defendants in the case, including the Town of South Bruce Peninsula, the Government of Ontario and the Government of Canada. This is essentially the full amount of costs that SFN had sought.

The defendants are each required to pay the following amounts to SFN:

Town: $1.67 million (50% of total)
Ontario: $1.28 million (40% of total)
Canada: $322,000 (10% of total)

The town is also required to pay $467,000 of Canada's costs after Canada supported SFN's position about ownership of the beach at trial.

"The costs decision follows a historic court ruling on April 3, 2023, when Justice Vella decided, after more than 30 years of litigation and generations of advocacy from the Saugeen people, that the beach north of Main Street is and always has been part of the Saugeen Indian Reserve No. 29," read the release.

"Saugeen First Nation has now celebrated a full year of managing the entire beach, which remains an important cultural and tourist destination."

The release went on to say that recovery of the full amount of costs that it had sought is further vindication of the merits of SFN's claim and recognition of the great burden it bore to protect and preserve its treaty land.

"Chief and Council are grateful that the Court has recognized the significant expenses that Saugeen First Nation has incurred over the years to advance our community's rights," said Saugeen First Nation Chief Conrad Ritchie. "We are very pleased that the Court not only recognized our rights but has now also allowed us to recover a significant portion of our legal costs that we can direct toward supporting our community in other ways."