News & Events

Radio interviews on CBC’s Early Edition and Daybreak North in regards to the Trans Mountain Expansion

Jack’s interview with Stephen Quinn on the Early Edition for May 30, 2018 appears at the 51:23 minute mark and his interview with Carolina de Ryk on Daybreak North for May 30, 2018 appears at the 1 hour 23:17 minute mark. Please take a moment to listen.  

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B.C. First Nation launches first ever case to extend Aboriginal title to ocean

The Narwhal May 29, 2018: A First Nation embroiled in a fight against salmon farms in the Broughton Archipelago is taking the battle to a new level by filing a claim of Aboriginal title in B.C. Supreme Court. The Dzawada’enuxw First Nation, whose main reserve is Kingcome Inlet, is claiming that tenures granted by the province […]

Aboriginal title claim threatens renewal of BC salmon farm tenures

The Common Sense Canadian, May 28, 2018: A First Nation’s claim of Aboriginal title, filed today at the BC Supreme Court in Vancouver, threatens the future of some open net pen Atlantic salmon farms. Lawyer Jack Woodward, who filed the claim on behalf of the Dzawada’enuxw First Nation of Kingcome Inlet, warned the NDP government it […]

Radio Interview: Cooperative Federalism and the Trans Mountain Pipeline with Each For All the Co-operative Connection

Each for All, May 22, 2018: The federal government is buying the Trans Mountain pipeline in order to get Alberta oil to tidewater in what it says is “the national interest.” British Columbia is asking the court whether it can regulate the product in that pipeline – diluted bitumen-  as it defends its environment. Some First Nations […]

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2018 Native Law Publisher’s Note: Release 2

You can read the Publisher’s Notes for releases 2018-1 to 2018-5 here.

  • Aboriginal Law in Canada Updates

APTN Nation to Nation article and video: Colonization forced Yale First Nation to sign deal with Kinder Morgan says chief

APTN April 27, 2018: Nation to Nation When Ken Hansen was elected as chief of Yale First Nation three and half years ago he immediately had a financial gun to his head. Hansen said his nation was broke and on the brink of third-party management. So he had two choices. Take a deal with Kinder […]

2018 Native Law Publisher’s Notes – Release 1

You can read the Publisher’s Notes for releases 2018-1 to 2018-5 here.

  • Aboriginal Law in Canada Updates

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 […]

Transcript of Jack’s interview with Michelle Eliot on CBC’s the Early Edition in regards to the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion.

Transcription of CBC’s the Early Edition April 23, 2018 Jack Woodward’s comments on the Kinder Morgan pipeline at 1:30:07 of interview with Michelle Eliot in for Stephen Quinn. Michelle: The dispute over the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project continues. Kinder Morgan says it needs regulatory clarity in BC by May 31st in order to push […]

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Podcast of Jack’s interview with Michelle Eliot on CBC’s the Early Edition in regards to the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion.

To hear Jack’s interview please click here, he appears at the 1 hour and 30 minute mark.

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First Nations court challenges continue to hang over $7.4-billion Trans Mountain pipeline expansion

Vancouver Sun, April 19, 2018: First Nations court challenges that allege inadequate consultation and seek to overturn federal and B.C. approval of the $7.4-billion Trans Mountain oil pipeline expansion have been overshadowed by recent debate on federal and provincial powers to regulate oil transport. But legal experts say the First Nations cases have real implications […]

Transcript: CBC’s The Current on the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline expansion divides Indigenous communities.

The Current Transcript for April 17, 2018 Host: Laura Lynch Stories from this episode: Transcript: Prologue Transcript: Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline expansion divides Indigenous communities Transcript: Boy on the beach: How Alan Kurdi’s family are turning their grief into a fight to help refugees Transcript: Why a water-gulping Wisconsin plant is a wake-up call for Canada To read […]

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Sound clip: CBC’s The Current on the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline expansion divides Indigenous communities.

CBC the Current, April 17, 2018: As the divide thickens for politicians in B.C. and Alberta over the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, the sentiment also resonates with First Nations in these provinces. First Nation leaders in favour of the project argue there’s an opportunity for economic prosperity for their people. But critics warn […]

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Narwhal article by Emma Gilchrist: ‘They’re Not Getting How the Constitution Works’: Why Trudeau, Notley Can’t Steamroll B.C. on Kinder Morgan Pipeline

The Narwhal, April 13, 2018: In the fall of 1981, Jack Woodward was a young lawyer in Ottawa when NDP leader Ed Broadbent and prime minister Pierre Trudeau struck a deal to include aboriginal rights in the Canadian constitution. “I banged out a first draft,” Woodward recalls. “I typed it out on a manual typewriter. […]

The Scrivener: 4 part series on Aboriginal Land Interest and Registering Aboriginal Lands

The Scrivener, Winter, 2017 to Winter 2016: 4 part series on Aboriginal Land Interest and Registering Aboriginal Lands by Jack Woodward and Ethan Krindle. Here are all 4 articles in one PDF.        

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Vancouver Media Co-op: Delgamuukw versus The Queen

VMC, December 11, 2017: 20 years later, Gisdayway family produces searing report on a legacy of dispossession and division following the court ruling that Gitksan and Wetsuwet’en title survives. On December 11, 1997, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that British Columbia has not extinguished Gitksan and Wet’suwet’en title and rights. The watershed case collected […]

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Canada 150: Building a Free and Democratic Society

From Lexis Nexis a stunning coffee table book: It’s the 150th anniversary of Canada’s Confederation and we’re marking this historic event with the release of a one-of-a-kind publication, Canada at 150: Building a Free and Democratic Society. This pictorial celebration commemorates 150 years of Canada’s legal and constitutional democracy as well as the 35th anniversary of the Constitution […]

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Title Fight: The Tsilhqot’in Nation got its land back. Canada will never be the same

The Walrus, July 22,2015 and updated on August 22, 2017: You might find it improbable that a young boy playing on the eastern slopes of British Columbia’s Coast Mountains once jumped on an iceberg and rode it down the Chilko River to where it joins the Fraser, and floated out to the sea. Or that when […]

Case Comment: A Brief Critique of Malcolm v Fort McMurray First Nation, 2016 FC 672

CanLII Connects, August 5, 2016: The Federal Court found that the Membership Clerk of the Fort McMurray First Nation had properly placed a membership application on hold pending confirmation of the applicant’s actual registration under the Indian Act, even though the applicants were likely “entitled to be registered”. ​Respectfully, I see two problems with this […]

Native Law Updates – June 2016

The June 2016 updates to Native Law are now available in the looseleaf version as the text, as well as on ProView. Some of the new information available in this release is: A new judicial comment on the text. Justice Victoria Starr relied on two passages in Native Law in a recent Ontario Court of […]

  • Aboriginal Law in Canada Updates