The Chief and Council of the Okanagan Indian Band along with members of the OKIB will attend BC Supreme Court in Vancouver on May 25 to 27 to witness the injunction hearing to stop the sale of the Commonage Rail corridor.
“Our legal team has confirmed these are the dates our application will be heard,” said Chief Byron Louis, “We have received the municipalities’ and CN Rail’s response and are waiting to receive the responses of Canada and British Columbia to our statement of claim filed in March.”
The OKIB filed a statement of claim in BC Supreme Court on March 24 naming CN Rail, Canada, British Columbia, the District of Lake Country, the City of Kelowna and the Regional District of the North Okanagan as defendants, and asserting that approximately 22km of the nearly 50km rail corridor is not CN Rail’s to sell.
“The OKIB never legally surrendered the lands in question,” said Chief Louis.
Chief Louis reiterated a previous call for all right-minded individuals to put action to their words of support.
“Call your mayors, MPs and MLAs,” said Chief Louis, “When you learn about our case, the truth is hard, if not impossible to ignore.”
