A judge quashed a forestry licence transfer along northwestern B.C.’s Nass River, ruling the Crown failed to consult the Gitanyow Nation
A B.C. judge has quashed a decision from the province to transfer a major forestry licence to an Indigenous-owned forestry company, after the government was found to have failed to uphold the “honour of the Crown” with a neighbouring nation.
The Jan. 8 ruling centred on the B.C. Ministry of Forest’s decision to approve the transfer of a forest licence to a numbered company owned and controlled by the Kitsumkalum First Nation.
The transfer, which occurred after the previous holder Skeena Sawmills entered into bankruptcy proceedings in 2023, was opposed by eight Gitanyow hereditary chiefs.
Unlike the Kitsumkalum, the Gitanyow claimed they have Aboriginal rights to harvest timber in a significant portion of the timber licence area, which at 162,484 cubic metres per year, lies in the middle of the Nass River watershed in northwestern B.C.
The Gitanyow have gone to great lengths to develop a sustainable land use plan across eight wilps (house groups).
That could eventually mean phasing out some licences or creating conditions to protect populations of moose, said Tara Marsden, the wilp sustainability director for Gitanyow.
“What we want to see is this vision of sustainable forestry,” she said.
The nation currently has access to timber through three non-replaceable forest licences, with a combined annual allowable cut of 289,000 cubic metres of wood.
The licences are drawn from “undercut”—timber that other licensees did not or could not harvest and what the Gitanyow described to the court as being “at the back of the line to access timber.”
Transferred through a Forest Tenure Opportunity Agreement, the licences are part of a wider 2022 reconciliation agreement with the province meant to pave the way for the Gitanyow to claim their inherent right to self-government, rights and title.
Read the full article: B.C. failed to consult First Nation on forestry deal: judge – Business in Vancouver