Supreme Court affirms Nuu-chah-nulth right to sell fish
Email
Print
Letter to Editor
Share
Updated: November 03, 2009 2:56 PM
The Nuu-chah-nulth have won a landmark decision in B.C. Supreme Court that affirms their right to catch and sell seafood.
In her disposition, Justice Nicole Garson wrote “The plaintiffs have aboriginal rights to fish for any species of fish in the environs of their territories and to sell fish.”
The case - Ahousaht et al versus Attorney General of Canada et al – started trial in 2006 . Its focus was the Nuu-chah-nulth right to catch and sell ocean resources.
Garson’s disposition also notes “…the plaintiffs have established that the Fisheries Act, as well as the regulations and policies promulgated thereunder, prima facie infringe their aboriginal rights to fish and to sell fish,” Garson wrote. But, she did not declare an “unjustified infringement.”
Garson set out a two-year time frame for the federal government and Nuu-chah-nulth to negotiate how the right to catch and sell can be accommodated. However, the process must be done “…without jeopardizing Canada’s legislative objectives and societal interests in regulating the fishery,” Garson wrote.
If the negotiations are unsuccessful, each party has the right to go back to court to submit further evidence and justification, Garson wrote. Following this hearing, though, the Nuu-chah-nulth can reapply for the declarations they seek respecting infringement and justification.
