Manitoba First Nation seeks court order to halt logging in Duck Mountains
CBC
A Manitoba First Nation is taking the provincial government to court to halt logging at Duck Mountain Provincial Park until it provides an approved plan for how it will protect the area and fulfil its Treaty 4 obligations.
Minegoziibe Anishinabe, also known as Pine Creek First Nation, filed the application on April 12 in the Court of Kings Bench.
It seeks an order to terminate the province's decision to extend its agreement with Louisiana-Pacific Canada Ltd. that allows it to harvest timber in the western Manitoba provincial park.
The province quietly extended its agreement with the U.S forestry giant through an order-in-council at the end of March.
The application names the province and Louisiana-Pacific.
It also asks for a court order to prohibit the province from licensing forestry activities in the area known as Forest Management Licence 3 – which includes the Duck Mountain Provincial Forest and surrounding area – until it fulfils its obligations to surrounding First Nations.
Three Manitoba First Nations – including Minegoziibe Anishinabe – raised concerns about the licence in February, asking the province to involve them in the decision-making before further forestry activities with Louisiana-Pacific are approved.
At the heart of the argument is a forest management plan (FMP) that the First Nation alleges has not been approved and goes against Manitoba's Forest Act.
Such plans require the licence holder (in this case Louisiana-Pacific) to submit a complex blueprint outlining its 20-year plan for the area. They must consult with First Nations before the province reviews it and approves it.
"In 2012 Manitoba agreed to consider other logging practices to protect moose habitat," Minegoziibe Anishinabe Chief Derek Nepinak said in the February press release.
"More than 12 years later Manitoba is still without a viable plan. This failure has negative impacts on our ability to bring our traditional healthy foods home to our families."
Minegoziibe Anishinabe is located the southwestern side of Lake Winnipegosis, east of Duck Mountain Provincial Park and about 100 kilometres north of Dauphin.
The province first entered into a 20-year agreement with Louisiana-Pacific in 1994, and a 10-year FMP was approved in 1996, the application states.
However, since its expiration in 2006, no further management plans have been approved. Instead, the application says, the provincial government has continued to extend the agreement.
Run 3 Space | Play Space Running Game
Traffic Jam 3D | Online Racing Game
Duck Hunt | Play Old Classic Game
A suspended Moncton structural engineer faces more lawsuits alleging design flaws in buildings that require repair.
Sajjade Tugano has come a long way since he first set foot in Chibougamau, six hours north of Quebec City, in the depths of winter in November 2021.
A national mentor-based hockey organization that helps marginalized youth through the sport is paying tribute to one of its members and youngest coaches.
After months of asking the City of Saskatoon to do more to solve its homelessness crisis, advocate David Fineday took to the stand at city council Tuesday.
A community organization wants to breathe new life into a historic building in Regina.
Some Prince County residents are walking away with more answers after attending Tuesday night's public information session in Albany, P.E.I., on the Wejipek Wind Project.
After just a few months of using vape detectors in a couple of bathrooms, a B.C. high school principal says it's reduced vape use in those areas to basically zero.
Burlington MP Karina Gould gets boost from local young people after entering Liberal leadership race
A day after entering the Liberal leadership race, Burlington, Ont., MP and government House leader Karina Gould was cheered at a campaign launch party by local residents — including young people expressing hope the 37-year-old politician will represent their voices.
Anold Mulaisho was born intersex and wonders where they fit in, in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order for the United States to recognize only two sexes, male and female.
WARNING: This story contains references to suicide.
Subway service is down on Line 1 between Sheppard West and Lawrence West due to a broken power rail, the TTC said Wednesday morning.
A long-term care home in Toronto's Yorkville neighbourhood has cleared one more hurdle to add desperately needed beds to its property, a move that's been praised by housing advocates but opposed by locals concerned about the impact on the neighbourhood.
A Charlottetown resident is calling on the P.E.I. government to do more to protect homeowners after reading about a recent oil spill very similar to one on his Montague property 20 years ago, which he says ruined him financially.
WARNING: This story includes details of abuse.
Two years after Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly declared she was taking the unprecedented step of moving to confiscate millions of dollars from a sanctioned Russian oligarch with assets in Canada, the government has not actually begun the court process to forfeit the money, let alone to hand it over to Ukrainian reconstruction — and it may never happen.
Alberta business and oilpatch leaders are returning home from Washington this week after the U.S. presidential inauguration festivities — and gritting their teeth after a roller-coaster of emotions.
Youth workers in Toronto's Jane and Finch area are flipping the script on negative stereotypes about their communities with a new fundraising campaign that offers anti-bias training in exchange for donations to bolster their programming.
In a sudden move that came late Tuesday evening, city officials rolled out cots and temporarily opened a warm building in east London as frigid temperatures continued.