New Brunswick Court Rules on Forests
11/11/97
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Headline: New Brunswick Court Rules on Forests
Source: The Associated Press
Date: 11/11/97
Copyright 1997 Associated Press This material may
not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) -- British Columbia
does not have exclusive control over its forests as
long as its aboriginal land claims remain
unresolved, a provincial court has ruled.
Monday's ruling by the provincial appeals court was
the second this month to strengthen claims of
Canada's natives to forest resources. A New
Brunswick court ruled last week that natives have a
right to cut trees on public land with no
restrictions.
Forestry is the largest industry in New Brunswick
and British Columbia. Both provincial governments
have assumed sole ownership of public lands and
parceled out large forest tracts for logging to
multinational companies.
Monday's ruling overturned a lower court decision
that had allowed the British Columbia government to
give MacMillan Bloedel Ltd. exclusive rights over
forests on the Queen Charlotte Islands and part of
Vancouver Island, despite outstanding land claims
from the Haida Indians.
Bill Macpherson, a spokesman for British Columbia's
Ministry of Forests, said the decision will enable
the Haida to proceed to trial and argue for the
establishment of their title to the land.
But he said the court decision does not specifically
quash the province's system of logging permits.
The decision, if applicable to all licenses given
out by the government, would affect about 25 percent
of the province's forests.
"To us, this puts things back to the way it is
supposed to be," said Ron Brown, president of the
Haida Nation Council, which represents the 6,000
Haida in British Columbia.