Haida Nation v. British Columbia (Minister of Forests)
Canada Supreme Court
[2004] 3 S.C.R. 511, 2004 SCC 73 (2004)
- Written by Andrea Smith, JD
Facts
British Columbia (defendant) granted a Tree Farm License (TFL) to a forestry company, allowing the company to harvest trees on land claimed by the Haida Nation (plaintiffs). The Haida Nation’s claimed title to the land was not yet legally recognized. In subsequent years, British Columbia replaced the TFL and transferred the TFL to a different company, Weyerhaeuser. The TFL granted Weyerhaeuser the exclusive right to harvest timber in an area that amounted to almost one-quarter of the land claimed by the Haida Nation. The Haida Nation objected to the logging rate and methods and the environmental effects of the logging. Seeing no improvement, the Haida Nation brought suit, claiming that the TFL replacements and transfer were made without the Haida Nation’s consent and over their objections.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (McLachlin, C.J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 814,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.