Komoyue Heritage Society v. British Columbia (A.G.), 2006 BCSC 1517

In Komoyue Heritage Society v. British Columbia (A.G.), 2006 BCSC 1517, Mr. Justice Davies confirmed that the standard, and well understood, test for standing applies in the case of a society and an individual claiming a failure to consult with them separately from the aboriginal group to which they continue to belong. The Court refused to grant standing to a member of the Kwakiutl Indian Band and an incorporated society, who were asserting that they should have been separately consulted prior to the issuance of an Environmental Assessment Certificate, on the basis that they represented descendants of the signatories to the 1851 Queackar-Douglas Treaty. The petitioners were challenging the Environmental Assessment Certificate with respect to Orca Sand & Gravel Ltd.'s sand and gravel project located near Port McNeill on Vancouver Island, and were seeking an injunction to halt the nearly completed project, among other relief. Mr. Justice Davies dismissed the Petition essentially on the basis that the dispute was an internal band matter. Charles F. Willms, Kevin O'Callaghan and Alison Kearns (Student-at-Law) of our Vancouver office appeared for Orca Sand & Gravel Ltd. before the British Columbia Supreme Court.