CALGARY, AB: The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms announces that lawyers funded by the Justice Centre have filed four Federal Court applications challenging banishment, search, and detention provisions in bylaws enacted by four indigenous governments in Alberta and Manitoba.
The applications are being brought with the support of the Band Members Alliance and Advocacy Association of Canada (BMAAAC). This national organization helps indigenous people seek transparency, accountability, and justice from their indigenous governments.
All four challenged bylaws regulate alcohol, illegal drugs, or other intoxicants on reserve lands. They provide for fines or imprisonment upon conviction and also allow Chief and Council to impose additional sanctions, including banishment for at least five years. For affected members, banishment can mean being forced away from their home community, family, and support networks for years. Although the bylaws provide internal appeal processes, the applications challenge the adequacy of the safeguards surrounding the exercise of these powers.
The applications argue that the challenged provisions exceed the authority delegated under the Indian Act and deny procedural fairness. They also argue that the provisions violate section 6(1) mobility rights, section 7 liberty and security rights, and section 8 protection against unreasonable search and seizure. Further alleged violations include section 9 protection against arbitrary detention, section 11(h) protection against additional punishment after a conviction, and section 12 protection against cruel and unusual punishment. The Federal Court applications concern the Little Red River Cree Nation, Fisher River Cree Nation, Roseau River Anishinabe First Nation, and Little Grand Rapids First Nation.
Three of the four challenged bylaws are largely identical. This raises concerns that similar provisions may have been adopted by other indigenous governments across Canada. The court applications follow legal warning letters sent to the four indigenous governments in the summer of 2026 by lawyers funded by the Justice Centre. None of the four bands responded.
BMAAAC President Rob Louie said, “Historically, acts akin to treason and extraordinary acts of violence and sex crimes would result in banishment from a First Nation community. Banishment was a last resort.
Today, I have seen band councils use banishment and eviction as the first and only option to address interpersonal conflict.”
“The power banishment gives band councils, without any recourse for their members, results in an enormous power imbalance,” he concluded.
Constitutional lawyer Phil Dunlop said, “Band councils have every right to address substance abuse, but they must do so within the law.”
He continued, “They cannot set up roadside checkpoints and search people and vehicles indiscriminately, authorize warrantless searches of homes and offices, or banish their own members without adequate procedural and constitutional safeguards.”
After being served, each respondent will have 10 days to file a notice of appearance if it wishes to contest the application.
The Justice Centre is Canada’s leading civil liberties organization defending Charter rights and freedoms in the courts of law and in the court of public opinion. Founded in 2010, the Justice Centre funds lawyers across Canada, relies entirely on voluntary donations to carry out its mission, and issues official tax receipts to donors.
