A ruling by New Brunswick's Court of Appeal found a vastly different outcome to the controversial Cowichan ruling by the Supreme Court of British Columbia last week.

In B.C., the court awarded large swathes of public and private land to the Cowichan Tribes following a lengthy legal case.

But in New Brunswick, the province's appeal court overturned a lower-court ruling that would have granted the Wolastoqey Nation the opportunity to lay claim to privately owned industrial lands as part of an existing, and broader, Aboriginal title case.

Writing in the decision, Justice Ernest Drapeau said “a declaration of Aboriginal title over privately-owned lands, which, by its very nature, gives the Aboriginal beneficiary exclusive possession, occupation and use, would sound the death knell of reconciliation with the interests of non-Aboriginal Canadians.”

On Friday's Rebel Roundup livestream, hosts Sheila Gunn Reid and Lise Merle agreed with the judge's line of thinking.

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“All of this is driving a divide, an unnecessary divide,” said Sheila, adding the decision was “sensical for once.”

The level-headed ruling was “so rare,” said Lise. “A judge actually saying something that makes sense — wow.”

Sheila gave credit to Justice Drapeau for taking the broader view of how these cases undermine social harmony.

People using these types of cases under the guise of reconciliation “have absolutely no idea the harms they're doing,” Lise said, suggesting these sorts of diversity, equity and inclusion approaches only cause more division.