Halalt First Nation has filed a leave to appeal application to the Supreme Court of Canada to settle legal arguments over the Chemainus River aquifer wells.
The filing follows a BC Court of Appeal ruling last November allowing the District of North Cowichan to resume pumping from the river’s aquifer to supply the town of Chemainus and the surrounding area. The appeal decision set aside a 2011 ruling by the BC Supreme Court that halted pumping until the province completed proper consultation about the project with Halalt.
In a press release announcing the band’s appeal, Halalt’s lawyer, William Andrews, says the Supreme Court of Canada has been asked to address two key legal issues — who owns the groundwater under reserve and Aboriginal title lands; and where a First Nation asserts both Aboriginal rights and title, can the Crown do its consultation based only on the rights and not the title?
Chief James Thomas said that letting the appeal court’s negative decision stand without an appeal to Canada’s highest court was not an option.
“Our position has not changed since this all started in 2004,” he said in the press release. “We take our role as stewards of the river very seriously. We must continue with this litigation until these legal issues are clearly settled. We are now asking Canada’s highest court to settle legal issues that we think are of national importance.”
