Law360 Canada (June 3, 2024, 1:38 PM EDT) -- Appeal by appellants from conclusion of chambers judge that policies adopted by Metis Settlements General Council (Council) represented reasonable exercise of Council's delegated authority under Metis Settlements Act (MSA) and were therefore lawful. This appeal concerned the authority of the Council to adopt assessment and taxation policies which treated the property of Settlement members and Settlement member-owned corporations differently from that of non-Settlement members and corporations. The four appellants, none of whom were Settlement members or corporations, owned and operated businesses on the Fishing Lake Metis Settlement (Fishing Lake). The policies in issue were adopted without consulting or providing notice to the appellants. Consequently, the appellants formed the entirety of Fishing Lake's property tax base, and each experienced a significant increase in their property tax liability to Fishing Lake. The appellants sought judicial review, challenging the policies as ultra vires the Council, on the grounds that the differential tax treatment must be expressly authorized, and they maintained that the 2019 Policies should be reviewed for reasonableness. The Council admitted that the policies had a discriminatory effect and that the discriminatory tax treatment was not expressly permitted under the MSA, but argued express authorization was not necessary. The chambers judge agreed with the Council....