Sort of interesting how we keep things in court for 7 years, probably more after another appeal.
Friday » May 4 » 2007
Court reinstates fishing convictions
Maurice Bridge
Vancouver Sun
Friday, May 04, 2007
VANCOUVER - Four members of the Cheam First Nation have had their convictions for fishing without a licence reinstated by the B.C. Court of Appeal in the latest legal decision in the ongoing battle over aboriginal fishing rights.
Kelly Ann Douglas, Todd Kenneth Wood, Howard Glynn Victor and Frederick William Quipp Jr. were convicted in Provincial Court in 2004 on charges relating to events in July, 2000. Wood, Victor and Douglas were fined, and Quipp was sentenced to 30 days in jail.
In February 2006, all four won acquittals in B.C. Supreme Court when the judge ruled the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans had failed to give priority to the Cheam fishery when it allowed other groups including sport fishermen to harvest some of the early Stuart run of sockeye salmon that year. The judge also found the Crown had breached its duty to consult with the Cheam, as required under federal law.
But in a unanimous decision by a panel of three Appeal Court judges handed down Thursday, B.C. Chief Justice Lance Finch said the lower-court judge was wrong, and ordered the fines restored and Quipp's sentence sent to the B.C. Supreme Court for reconsideration.
Finch noted the Cheam band "deliberately frustrated" all attempts by the federal Fisheries Department at the time to consult it about its plans for managing the harvest of salmon that season.
Don Radford, regional director of fisheries and aquaculture management for Fisheries and Oceans Canada, welcomed Thursday's ruling.
"I think it means the approach the department has taken has been supported by the courts," Radford said.
He added that relations between the Cheam First Nation and the fisheries department are much better than they were in 2000, due largely to a change in Cheam political leadership.
mbridge@png.canwest.com© The Vancouver Sun 2007
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