The West Moberly First Nations of northeastern BC is trying to stop a herd of wildlife known as the Burnt Pine Caribou from becoming extinct as mining and exploration activities threaten to disturb the habitat of these animals.
In September 2009, the BC Ministry of Energy and Mines approved a coal exploration permit to Vancouver-based First Coal Corporation. When West Moberly filed a complaint, the BC Supreme Court responded with a ruling that favored the First Nations. So far so good. Then the provincial government appealed that decision. On May 26, 2011, the BC Court of Appeal upheld the earlier decision stating that the West Moberly’s right to hunt [under Treaty 8] necessarily included protection of the caribou as the wildlife is central to West Moberly’s traditional way of life. The Appeal Court also found that the BC government failed to adequately consult with the First Nations to accommodate their needs.
This is an unprecedented victory for the First Nations especially when it comes to exercising their Treaty Rights in the future. As with those who are sensitive to aboriginal rights and environmental issues and in particular the protection of endangered species, we are very happy to learn about the latest BC Court of Appeal decision.
It is not that the West Moberly First Nations is against mining. Chief Roland Willson indicated that he had helped launched many mining operations in the past but when he uttered words of complaint against the government, he was made out to be anti-mining and trying to stop economic development in his territory.
However, there are many issues involved with this dispute. One of the most important (and often side-stepped) is the significance of the cumulative effect of past industrial developments that has reduced the Burnt Pine caribou herd to just 11 members. Again, the latest Court of Appeal decision decidedly did not call for a more comprehensive plan to rehabilitate the caribous so their count could one day recover and increase to a more ideal number. The reasoning behind that is while the Chief Justice recognized the detrimental effect of the cumulative actions of industrial development over the years, the decision was not meant to redress the past but to focus more squarely on the current state of affairs and specifically the permit issued to First Coal Corporation and that the direct result of the exploration and future mining activities need to be better consulted with the West Moberly First Nations.
It should also be noted that the BC government currently has no specific laws that deal with endangered species in the province. Although the government does have a Provincial Conservation Framework that among other things, lists endangered species in priority categories so as to recommend actions to be taken proactively. Maybe this on-going dispute involving the West Moberly hunting rights and coal mining development would quicken the pace for proper endangered species and biodiversity legislation.
As we continue to develop our Life For Mile movie production, we find that this current West Moberly situation inspires us. We are thinking about writing a scene into our movie that depicts pass wrongdoings with no regard (or even downright disrespect) for wildlife which caused the caribou herd to decrease its numbers to the present day horrific level.
At the same time, we will continue to help West Moberly in any way which way we can in their fight to keep the caribou from becoming extinct. We are planning to shoot in the West Moberly region which should provide some spectacular scenery in the fall or early winter.
The rehabilitation of the caribou is not only significant to the traditional way of life for the First Nations, it is also part of our heritage as British Columbia used to have tens of thousands of caribous roaming freely in the upper two-thirds of our province. It would be very sad that one day we wake up and find that there won’t be a single caribou left because we have failed to take action to stop them from becoming extinct while we had the opportunity to do so.
West Moberly is represented by Christopher Devlin and Timothy Thielmann, of the Victoria-based law firm, Devlin Gailus.
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West Moberly where the Burnt Pine caribous roam freely
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