News & Events

The cloud-based document management program, CaseLines, was introduced at the Federal Court of Canada this week, used by the parties and the Court in a motion to strike before Prothonotary Aalto. Jack Woodward, Q.C., representing the Plaintiff First Nation, gave other counsel access to a Hearing File created in CaseLines a week before the hearing. […]

A recent ruling by three Appeal Court justices has transformed the nature of Treaty 8 First Nations’ legal battles against the Site C dam and oil and gas development, finding the Crown must consider the cumulative impacts of industrial projects.   Jack Woodward, who along with Joseph Arvay represented the Fort McKay First Nation before […]

Alberta’s highest court has overturned regulatory approvals for a $440-million oil sands project that would have encroached on land a First Nation considers sacred. In a strongly worded judgment, three justices of the Alberta Court of Appeal ruled that the Alberta Energy Regulator violated the honour of the Crown when it approved the proposal even […]

As the Wet’suwet’en protests continue, people are talking about a landmark court case in 1997, called Delgamuukw. Some say it established title for the Wet’suwet’en, but it’s not that simple. Jack Woodward, an expert in indigenous law, joined Kathryn Marlow to explain. Listen here… 

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 […]