National Observer piece by Mike De Souza on the Trans Mountain pipeline.

April 24, 2018: Jack is quoted in Chapter 4 ‘It’s Certainly Troubling’.

Gordon Christie, a law professor from the University of British Columbia who specializes in Indigenous legal cases, said revelations about the Trans Mountain approval instructions raise questions about whether the consultations with First Nations were meaningful.

“It’s certainly troubling because it goes right to the heart of what you call meaningful consultation,” he said in an interview. “It’s hard to call that consultation when you are supposedly listening to the other party talk about their concerns, but you’ve always had your course of action set.”

But he added that other factors could be considered by judges reviewing the case.

“So I can’t say that by itself, whether it’s fatal (to the Crown’s case),” he said.

Jack Woodward is a B.C.-based lawyer who is known for drafting Section 35 of the Constitution. More recently, he was on the winning side of a landmark June 2014 Supreme Court decision that ruled the Tsilhqot’in Nation held title to about 1,900 square kilometres of their unceded traditional territory in B.C., following a 25-year battle.

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