Year: 2019

The province is arguing the Nuchatlaht, who have never ceded control of their traditional territory in Nootka Sound on Vancouver Island, abandoned their land – while the nation reminds the court their land was stolen.  Read more…

The chief of the Fort McKay First Nation remembers when he first went out to the Moose Lake area in northern Alberta to learn how to hunt and trap with his family.  Read more…  

Lawyers for Fort McKay First Nation appeared in court Tuesday over the Alberta Energy Regulator’s approval of an oilsands project on treaty land and hopes to fight for responsible development in the Moose Lake area.   Read more…

Forest Management a natural place to start Jack Woodward, an Aboriginal rights lawyer who served as legal counsel on the landmark Tsilhqot’in title case, said while Aboriginal rights and treaty rights are governed by the constitution, the province can look for ways to support reconciliation within its own jurisdiction.  Read more…

Landmark Legislation On the heels of the federal election, there was a monumental moment for Indigenous rights here in British Columbia, with the introduction of a provincial law to implement the United Nations Declarations on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.  Read more…  

E-Hearings are underway for lengthy chambers applications in The Nuchatlaht v. BC [VA 17-0606] before Justice Myers of the British Columbia Supreme Court.  The Plaintiffs elected to argue their portion of three applications using the E-Trial platform, Caselines.  This is the first time Caselines has been used in Canada for chambers applications. To read more on […]

Seafood Source, January 16, 2019: The Dzawada’enuxw First Nation filed a claim in Vancouver federal court last Thursday against Canada’s federal government for authorizing licenses for 10 fish farms in tribal waters without consulting or seeking consent from the group. The Dzawada’enuxwm, from Kingcome Inlet, British Columbia, Canada, say that the net-pen Atlantic salmon farms […]

CBC News January 13, 2019: A new multi-media art exhibition in Vancouver explores questions of Indigenous jurisdiction and land and water rights. Marianne Nicolson is a member of the Dzawada’enuxw First Nation in Kingcome Inlet on B.C.’s central coast. She worked with more than 10 other artists there last summer using film, video, social media, weaving, animation, drawing, language and song to […]

CBC News January 12, 2019: A British Columbia First Nation is suing the federal government for allowing Atlantic salmon farming in its waters, which it says is a violation of its Aboriginal rights. Dzawada’enuxw First Nation filed a claim in Vancouver federal court Thursday alleging that 10 fish farms located in the waters of their […]

CTV News January 12, 2019: In B.C.’s remote Kingcome Inlet, the Dzawada’enuxw First Nation is fighting to remove all fish farms from their traditional territory — farms that they say they never approved. To evict the 10 area fish farms, the Dzawada’enuxw have launched a lawsuit against the federal government, claiming that Ottawa failed to […]

Jack Woodward QC (born October 3, 1951) is a Canadian lawyer. He specialises in Canadian Aboriginal law and is the author of Native Law,[1] which is considered the leading Canadian publication on Aboriginal Law.[2] Woodward has practiced law since 1979, primarily in the areas of Aboriginal law and environmental law. He has represented more than a hundred First Nations groups and organisations in a wide […]

National Observer January 10, 2019: Dzawada’enuxw First Nation community members, including matriarchs, elected and traditional leaders, and artists, were in Vancouver Thursday to announce their decision to sue the Government of Canada. The First Nation, from Kingcome Inlet, B.C., filed a statement of claim in federal court in Vancouver on Thursday, arguing the federal government authorized […]