Supreme Court Refusal Ends 35-Year Saugeen Beach (Sauble Beach) Legal Battle
The Supreme Court of Canada has denied leave to appeal rulings confirming SFN owns all of Saugeen Beach (formerly Sauble Beach), ending a 35-year court battle. Compensation issues may follow.
Canada’s top court has dismissed appeal requests from the Town of South Bruce Peninsula and the Province of Ontario after a stretch of land along Sauble Beach was legally affirmed in 2023 — and the decision upheld by Ontario’s Court of Appeal — as belonging to the Saugeen First Nation.
The Supreme Court of Canada did not provide reasons for its decision, which is the customary practice when leave to appeal is denied.
Saugeen First Nation (SFN) announced the development on Thursday, August 28, stating that the decision “ends a legal battle that has lasted for 35 years and a larger struggle that has lasted nearly two centuries.”
What’s in a name?
Saugeen Beach now refers to the two-kilometre stretch of shoreline west of Lakeshore Boulevard, between Main Street and 7th Street North, confirmed as reserve land.
Sauble Beach continues to be the name of the surrounding community and popular tourist destination within the Town of South Bruce Peninsula.
“Generations of Saugeen people have fought tirelessly against all odds to protect and preserve this deeply important area at the heart of our traditional territory,” said Saugeen Chief Conrad Ritchie.
“The beach is central to our way of life. Out of all our vast territory, this is what our ancestors chose to reserve for their families—and for us today—when they took treaty with the Crown,” Ritchie explained. “Achieving this legal victory after all these years is a testament to the strength and resilience of our ancestors and our community.”
Court rulings leading up to the Supreme Court decision
Litigation asserting Saugeen First Nation’s claim was first filed in 1990. At the time, Saugeen’s treaty partner, the Government of Canada, supported the claim. It was opposed by the Government of Ontario, the Town of South Bruce Peninsula, and several private landowners who had been using the disputed stretch of beach as a paid parking lot.
On April 3, 2023, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice ruled that Saugeen Beach was improperly surveyed in 1855. The Court declared that the beach was and always had been Saugeen reserve land and that the Crown breached legal and constitutional duties to Saugeen by failing to protect and preserve its reserve.
As previously reported by Owen Sound Current on December 10, 2024, the Ontario Court of Appeal unanimously upheld that April 3, 2023 ruling.
The trial decision concluded that no third parties hold any interest in the section west of Lakeshore Boulevard between Main Street and 7th Street North.
On January 10, 2025, the Town of South Bruce Peninsula said it would consider seeking leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada, citing unresolved issues and the need for a federal survey.
“Because outstanding issues remain, we are not in a position to drop our right to seek leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada,” the municipality said. “The Town’s Leave to Appeal documents will be filed prior to the February 7, 2025, deadline.”
Even as the legal process played out, Saugeen First Nation continued to assert its rights on the ground. On July 1, 2025, the iconic welcome sign on reserve land was changed from “Sauble Beach” to “Saugeen Beach.”
A symbolic sign change on Canada Day
“What some see as just a sign change is, for us, a symbol of truth, resilience and the reclamation of what has always been ours,” Cheree Urscheler, Band Councillor at Saugeen First Nation #29 and co-chair of the Beach Advisory Committee, said at the time.
“Welcome to Saugeen Beach—where the land remembers, and so do we,” she added.
In a July 1 media release, the Town of South Bruce Peninsula said: “The change was made overnight on June 30 without any notice to the Town. While the sign is located on lands under the jurisdiction of Saugeen First Nation, we are disappointed not to have been told of the decision to change the name.”
Mayor Jay Kirkland said that while the municipality respected Saugeen First Nation’s right to make changes on their land, “we believe open communication is important—especially when it involves something so symbolic to the broader community.”
A precedent-setting case in Canada
Saugeen First Nation’s Aug. 28 release describes the outcome as “the first legal proceedings in Canada where courts have recognized Indigenous ownership of land that was wrongfully patented and sold to private settlers.”
SFN also noted that while it has operated a public park on the south part of the beach since the 1960s, it has operated on the north part since 2023.
The Supreme Court’s refusal to hear the appeal leaves the lower-court rulings in place, concluding a decades-long case. While land ownership is now legally settled, compensation and related issues are expected to follow in a second trial phase if not resolved through negotiations.