A land-claim dispute over a parcel of Yukon farmland is growing into a national fight over aboriginal rights that will unfold later this fall at the Supreme Court of Canada.

No fewer than 20 lawyers representing the federal government, three provincial governments and eight aboriginal organizations plan to appear before Canada's highest court on Nov. 12, as part of a five-year-old legal dispute between the Yukon government and the Little Salmon Carmacks First Nation.

As of late last week, the Supreme Court of Canada has accepted interventions from the federal government and provincial governments in Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador, which all want a say in the court case.

The top court has also accepted interventions from the Council of Yukon First Nations, the Kwanlin Dun First Nation in Whitehorse and aboriginal governments and organizations in the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Quebec and British Columbia.

The Supreme Court has not yet decided if it will hear oral arguments from all lawyers present. The court has already instructed all interveners to keep their written arguments no longer than 12 pages in length.

Duty to consult

The Yukon government is appealing decisions by two lower courts that say it has a duty to consult with First Nations about land dispositions in their traditional territories.

The dispute began when the Little Salmon Carmacks First Nation objected to the government's granting of a 65-hectare agricultural land lease to a prospective farmer in 2004.

The lease was for land north of Carmacks, within the Little Salmon Carmacks First Nation's traditional territory.

In 2007, the Yukon Supreme Court ruled that the territorial government had not properly consulted with the First Nation before granting the agricultural lease.

Yukon government lawyers have argued that the land-claim agreement it has with the First Nation details each party's obligations. The courts have no right to impose further duties, they argue.