A B.C. Supreme Court judge has certified a class action lawsuit that would see First Nations go after both the province and the federal government for fish farms that allegedly harmed wild salmon stocks in the Broughton archipelago.
According to court documents dated December 1, Chief Robert Chamberlin of the Kwicksutaineuk/Ah-Kwa-Mish First Nation is representing a class of plaintiffs including numerous bands that assert fishing rights in the Broughton archipelago near the north end of Vancouver Island.
B.C.’s Ministry of Agriculture and Lands and the Attorney General of Canada have been named defendants in the case.
Chamberlin alleges the province’s issuance of fish farm licenses in the archipelago has resulted in sea lice infestations in wild salmon stocks, according to court documents.
It is further alleged those infestations have infringed on aboriginal fishing rights to the area.
Both Victoria and Ottawa opposed the certification of the class action suit, saying First Nations are generally barred from class proceedings.
The province and the federal government allege the bands would face serious challenges establishing fishing rights in a class proceeding because of overlapping territorial claims, which essentially puts the plaintiffs in conflict with one another.
The defendants also allege the evidence in the application “fails to establish a colourable claim to adverse impacts on wild salmon stocks attributable to sea lice contamination from fish farms.”
In his decision to certify the class action, judge Harry Slade found the plaintiffs are not in conflict with one another.
“No injunction is being sought against the existing fish farm operations, and no attempt is being made to ‘shut down’ the industry,” Slade wrote. “Rather, Chief Chamberlin seeks to hold the province accountable in damages for the decrease in wild salmon stocks (if any) attributable to the province’s conduct, and to force the province to remediate the wild salmon stocks in the Broughton archipelago.”
Last week, Chamberlin and members of the First Nations Fisheries Council held a protest outside of a Department of Fisheries and Oceans office in downtown Vancouver.
Chamberlin said the federal government didn’t properly consult with First Nations before it assumed oversight of B.C.’s aquaculture industry this month.
Last week the U.S. National Academy of Sciences published a study that suggested sea lice were not the cause of one of the largest declines in pink salmon in the Broughton archipelago in 2002. (See “Sea lice not cause of salmon decline: study” – BIV Business Today, December 14.)