Emails and letters not ‘deep’ consultation, judge tells B.C. in First Nations forestry case

By Vaughn Palmer
Vancouver Sun
January 9, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

VICTORIA — The NDP government has lost another court case to an Indigenous nation, this time for failing to properly consult over the transfer of a forest licence. …Much of the 33-page court decision was given over to a discussion of the court-imposed obligation on the government to consult and accommodate Indigenous nations affected by the transfer of provincial land and resources. …The government’s defeat was doubly embarrassing because its lawyers had assured the court that the province had engaged in “deep consultations” with the Gitanyow on the transfer. …“A surprising feature of this case is that despite Gitanyow and the province agreeing to consult at the “deep/complex” level, there were no meetings. …He further noted how the exchange of letters and emails went completely off the rails at one point because of a screw up on the government side.

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