laws displaced their Indigenous title - meaning forestry tenures are lawful - and that the Nuchatlaht Nation was a loosely affiliated group of First Nations families that was too small and weak to hold Aboriginal title, as it’s known in legal terms. The province argues the Nuchatlaht abandoned Nootka Island, that B.C.
“denies each and every allegation of fact” put forward by the Nuchatlaht, “except as expressly admitted.” Last week, Woodward received the province’s latest response to the nation’s civil claim which states B.C. is arguing the Nuchatlaht abandoned their territory and did not hold Aboriginal title Lawyer reminds court ‘land was stolen’ B.C. argues Nuchatlaht Nation ‘abandoned’ its territory.
Nootka island trial#
Supreme Court in Vancouver, with the trial expected to last for eight weeks until early June, followed by two weeks of legal submissions in September.ī.C. But the case is now advancing to the B.C. Jack Woodward, lawyer for the Nuchatlaht, said he briefly held out hope earlier this month that the provincial government might back down and settle the case outside the courts. Provincial lawyers even requested the nation provide documents proving they did, in fact, abandon their territory. The abandonment claim snagged the case in pre-trial limbo for years as the province sought to establish the Nuchatlaht’s abandonment of their territory. The case then stalled out, after the province claimed the Nuchatlaht did not have legal claim to their lands because the nation abandoned its territory. and Western Forest Products were allowing extensive forestry operations to continue impacting water quality and salmon runs, the Nuchatlaht filed their land claim in B.C.
In January 2017, expressing frustration that protracted treaty negotiations with B.C.
Nuchatlaht Ha’wilth (Hereditary Chief) Jordan Michael says logging has destroyed old-growth forest and salmon streams on Nootka Island, but the province won’t recognize Nuchatlaht First Nation’s right to manage the territory. Intensive industrial clearcut logging by forestry company Western Forest Products has removed 80 per cent of the old-growth timber on Nootka Island and destroyed salmon streams, according to Nuchatlaht Ha’wilth (Hereditary Chief) Jordan Michael, who spoke about the legal case at a webinar hosted by the Wilderness Committee in early March.īut the provincial government, which manages forestry tenures and licences, has refused to recognize Nuchatlaht’s right to manage and protect their territory, Michael said. Why is the Nuchatlaht land title case heading to court now? Supreme Court, here’s what you need to know about one of the most important Indigenous title cases currently being fought in the province. So, as the Nuchatlaht prepare to take their arguments to B.C. laws into alignment with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).
It is also the first title case to test the province’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, passed in 2019. A map showing Nuchatlaht First Nation’s traditional territory, including the northern portion of Nootka Island where they’re claiming title to 200 square kilometres of land. The Nuchatlaht rights and title case, claiming about 200 square kilometres of Nootka Island, off the west coast of Vancouver Island, is the first to apply the precedent-setting 2014 Tsilhqot’in decision, in which the Supreme Court of Canada granted the Tsilhqot’in First Nation title to 1,750 square kilometres of territory. We’re here to make things better for everyone … we all have to encourage the province to come to their senses quickly,” Little said. hoping to lay title claim to their unceded territories. “We’re small, but mighty,” said Little, Nuchatlaht House Speaker, confidently predicting the case will change the course of recent history for Nuchatlaht and also chart a path for other First Nations in B.C. Supreme Court on Monday, March 21, he emphasizes the phrase supporters are using to describe the legal battle between the tiny Nuchatlaht First Nation and the provincial and federal governments. As Archie Little anticipates the groundbreaking Indigenous title case heading to B.C.
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