Province Allowed To Use Traditional Lands

Ontario’s highest court has ruled that the province has
the right to “take up” treaty land for mining and forestry.
The Grassy Narrows First Nation challenged Ontario’s right to permit industrial logging on its traditional lands, saying it infringed on their hunting and trapping rights under a treaty they
signed in 1873.
The Court of Appeal for Ontario ruled Monday that the province doesn’t need the federal government’s approval to “take up” the lands, a decision that overturns a lower court ruling.
The First Nation has spent 13 years in court fighting the
province’s decision to issue a license to Resolute Forest Products for clear-cut operations in parts of the Keewatin portion of Treaty 3 territory.
The company pulled out of the Whiskey Jack Forest north of Kenora in 2008, saying it couldn’t wait four more years for the province and the First Nation to agree on logging practices.
Observers said the lower-court ruling put the validity of forestry and mining licenses in jeopardy, and at least one mining company hailed the Appeal Court decision Monday as a positive one for them.