Company owned by two Haida among those convicted of destroying prime fish habitat

Three companies, one owned by Haida, have each been found guilty of 20 counts of damaging fish habitat in the Mallard Creek area on Graham Island.
Photograph by: Fisheries and Oceans Canada

It will take centuries for the site to recover, fisheries biologist say

By Larry Pynn, Vancouver Sun, October 24, 2015

The Haida said they would do things differently, that logging practices would be more sustainable and environmentally friendly than the old days.

That’s not the scenario played out in Masset provincial court as a judge found three forest companies — one owned by two high-profile Haida — guilty of 20 counts each of environmentally destructive logging practices.

Judge Michael Brecknell said the violations by Gwaii Wood Products Ltd., Howe Sound Forest Products Ltd., and I. Crosby Contracting Ltd. occurred adjacent to Highway 16 about 3.5 kilometres northeast of the Village of Port Clements on Graham Island, between June 24 and Oct. 20, 2010.

Crown may proceed with B.C. logging auction against First Nations’ wishes: court

By The Canadian Press, July 28, 2015

VANCOUVER – A judge has refused to block British Columbia’s government from auctioning off 15 logging licenses within the traditional territory of a First Nation in the province’s northeast.

B.C. Supreme Court has dismissed an injunction application by the Blueberry River First Nations connected to almost 1,700 hectares of marketable timber in the upper Peace River Region.

The application is part of a much broader lawsuit in which the First Nation alleges its treaty rights have been violated wholesale, in a region that will be home to the province’s controversial Site C hydroelectric dam.