The Ktunaxa First Nation has petitioned the Supreme Court of Canada for a judicial review, requesting that no resort development will be in their sacred place, Qat’Muk, by keeping the Jumbo Valley area naturally wild.
This is an appeal as the BC Supreme Court decided the Jumbo Glacier resort development would not impact the area negatively. The federal court has agreed to take the case.
The proponents of the resort development have petitioned the BC courts for a judicial review claiming that BC. Minister of Environment Mary Polak’s Oct. 4, 2014 decision that no “substantial start” had been made was erroneous. That decision determined that they did not receive their permanent certificate.
Eco-Justice, part of the Jumbo Wild team, has asked the BC government how the cancellation of the environmental certificate for the resort proponents will affect tenures like “license of agreement,” etc.
So far neither the federal nor the provincial governments have made known in any way their decisions regarding the above.
The current word about Jumbo Wild, the movie, is that it is being shown widely internationally with thousands of signatures on the petition. The on-the-ground results of all this far flung interest is that the valley saw many more back country recreationalists, mainly skiers, this winter.
Rowena Eloise, Kootenay Coalition for Jumbo Wild, Argenta
