What jurisdiction does the Small Claims Tribunal have in dealing with a dispute over ownership of a dog?

5. At a preliminary hearing, the parties submitted evidence as to whether the tribunal should refuse to resolve their dispute under section 10 of the Act on the basis that it was a family law matter outside the tribunal’s jurisdiction. Under the common law, pets are considered personal property (see Brown v. Larochelle, 2017 BCPC 115). Ownership of a dog generally falls within the tribunal’s personal property jurisdiction. Where parties were in a common law relationship, pets are considered “family property” and the dispute would fall under the family law jurisdiction of the courts. The tribunal determined based on the evidence that the parties were not in a common-law relationship and that the claim falls under the tribunal’s small claims jurisdiction, though noted the preliminary decision was not a final determination of the tribunal’s jurisdiction.