Exploring Theme: "Duty to Consult/FPIC"

APTN News: Leaders from the Gitxaała and Gitanyow First Nations are celebrating a historic victory after the Supreme Court of British Columbia ruled the province’s laws on mining stakes did not meet the Crown’s duty of consultation. The court challenge opposed the laws that let exploration companies stake claims without prior consent, often for as...

The human rights group is calling for the company to cease operations in Wet’suwet’en territory. The Tyee: An investigation by human rights organization Amnesty International has found that Coastal GasLink, its private security firm, the RCMP and Canadian and B.C. governments all violated the Indigenous rights of Wet’suwet’en who oppose the pipeline project.  “What emerges...

Province ordered to replace system with one that ensures consultation with Indigenous communities CBC News: The B.C. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the province’s mining permit system is unconstitutional. The province’s current system, at issue in the case, automatically grants mineral claims to industry applicants who submit a request through a government website. Tuesday’s ruling found that process...

The Globe and Mail: Canadian Press – The owner of a rail terminal in British Columbia’s Interior says a lawsuit launched by the Bonaparte First Nation is a “collateral attack” on the company’s “numerous” grants, permits, and licenses to operate the expanding facility. The nation’s claim filed last month alleges the facility operated by Ashcroft...

In the B.C. Supreme Court, Gitxaała Nation and Ehattesaht First Nation argue the mineral rights process sidesteps the duty to consult The Narwhal: A new mineral claim was made in the heart of Gitxaała territory this month in a sacred area the First Nation is trying to protect. For Gitxaała Hereditary Chief Sm’ooygit Nees Hiwaas,...

NationTalk: Canada’s National Observer – Over most of the past month, the B.C. Supreme Court has heard a challenge brought by the Gitxaała and Ehattesaht First Nations against the province’s decision to award multiple mineral claims in their unceded territories. This judicial review is essential to reforming the colonial-era Mineral Tenure Act (MTA), which permits mineral claims...

Two companies named in a B.C. Supreme Court case have made claims to Ehattesaht land — while the First Nation argues the province should stop automatically giving away mineral rights to its territory The Narwhal: Mining exploration companies continue to make claims in Ehattesaht First Nation territory, even as the First Nation fights in the B.C. Supreme Court...

NationTalk: Hearings in Gitxaała Nation’s landmark legal case began last week. Gitxaała hereditary and elected leaders, elders, and supporters walked into the courthouse on April 3, united “with one voice and in the Spirit of being of one heart,” as elected Chief Councillor Linda Innes described. “We owe it to our children, to those yet...

Coastal First Nations; Brett Bear Initiative: The Gitxaała Nation is standing up to protect future generations by challenging BC’s process for granting mineral claims in their territories — a process originating in the gold rush era that leaders say breaks both Gitxaała and Canadian laws.  The case will address the province’s “duty to consult” the...

Province says it is committed to modernizing the system in consultation with Indigenous people CBC News: A challenge by two First Nations against the way British Columbia grants mineral claims begins in B.C. Supreme Court on Monday morning, marking the first legal test of the province’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act.  The Gitxaałan and Ehattesaht First...

The Gitxaała Nation and Ehattesaht First Nation want the province to change how it gives out mineral titles — and they’re taking their fight to the B.C. Supreme Court The Narwhal: Imagine finding someone you’ve never met digging through your backyard, looking for gold. You tell them it’s your property, but they don’t leave. Instead,...

Community-Industry Response Group not welcome on Gitxsan lands, say chiefs First Peoples Law Report: Clearwater Times – Gitxsan hereditary chiefs issued a notice this week prohibiting the RCMP’s ‘militarized squadron’ called the Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG) from Gitxsan lands centred in the Hazelton area, effective immediately. “While we embrace safety measures for our community, the...

Petition stems from halted negotiations amid acquisition deal NationTalk: BIV – The Tsetsaut/Skii km Lax Ha Nation is taking the province to court claiming the government failed in its duty to consult with the First Nation regarding a mining company’s acquisition of a mine in its territory, and has failed to work with the mine’s new owners...

Coastal First Nations – In the wake of the news that two Métis groups received funding from the Alberta Government to legally challenge the Oil Tanker Moratorium Act, Coastal First Nations (CFN) will continue to fight to protect our waters, lands and resources from potential oil spills. “We will do whatever it takes to protect...

NationTalk -The Tŝilhqot’in Nation has been actively involved in the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources’ Comprehensive Review of BC Hydro, which contains many progressive ideas which, if intelligently implemented, would have positive impacts on energy policy benefiting all British Columbians. The changes contained in Bill 17 have never been raised during these engagements...