In the relevant portions of the land claim agreement that your motion is addressing, I think the concept in the language was where the board determines “in its judgment” and so the legislative drafters understood that to be more of an expression of an opinion. It's a judgment by the board. It's not a judgment.
When they looked at similar types of decisions of other boards in the statute book, the language that was used more consistently was “opinion”. Those were the reasons behind the choice of the words “in its opinion” as opposed to in either its “judgment” or a “determination”.