Innu Nation v. Pokue

The Federal Court of Appeal released a decision on November 21, 2014 in Innu Nation v. Pokue, allowing an appeal from an earlier Federal Court decision which held that the Innu Nation acted as a "federal board, commission or other tribunal" in conducting its election in 2012 and the Federal Court therefore has jurisdiction to entertain a judicial review of that election.

The Court of Appeal held that the Federal Court misstated the proper questions to be asked in determining whether it had jurisdiction. When faced with a judicial review application, the Federal Court must first ask what jurisdiction or power was being exercised, and then ask what the source of that jurisdiction or power was. In this case, the power being exercised was the Innu Nation's conducting of an election of its board of directors. The source of this power was in a bylaw of the Innu Nation that the Federal Court had recognized as not originating from a federal Act or prerogative. The Court of Appeal held that based on these two determinations alone it was clear that the Innu Nation was not acting as a federal board in conducting its election and the Federal Court therefore lacked jurisdiction to hear a judicial review of its election.

The Court of Appeal also rejected a further argument that the Innu Nation was acting as a Band Council in conducting its election and 'purporting' to exercise jurisdiction or power under the Indian Act or through its own custom; the appellate court found no merit in this submission and found that no such finding could be made on the evidentiary record. The Innu Nation's exercise of powers unrelated to the election was irrelevant to the test for whether the Federal Court could hear a judicial review of that election.