First Nation claims rights substantiated after legal win – The Chronicle Journal

March 7, 2017

Batchewana First Nation says its legal victory against the province has “substantiated” the rights of indigenous people to harvest timber on their traditional lands.

The 10-year-old case came to an end last month when an Ontario judge awarded court costs totalling $390,000 to four members of the Sault Ste. Marie-area band, including current Batchewana Chief Dean Sayers.

Costs were awarded because the judge ruled the delay by the Crown to bring illegal logging charges against the men to trial was excessive, said an earlier band news release.

The men, who had all pleaded not guilty to the offence, were charged in 2007 under Ontario’s Crown Forest Sustainability Act. The act prohibits logging on Crown land without a licence.

The decision by the Crown to withdraw the charges wasn’t made until 2016.

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