News release

Supreme Court Asked to Hear Aboriginal Logging Case

Public Prosecution Service

PUBLIC PROSECUTION SERVICE--Supreme Court Asked to Hear Aboriginal Logging Case


The province is asking the Supreme Court of Canada to hear an appeal of a decision that ordered new trials for 35 Mi'kmaq convicted of illegal logging on Crown land.

The Nova Scotia Public Prosecution Service filed an application today, Nov. 27, seeking leave to appeal the Oct. 10 decision by the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal overturned convictions and ordered new trials for 35 Mi'kmaq natives charged in 1998 and 1999 with cutting or removing timber from Crown land at various locations across the province.

The loggers were convicted in 2001 on charges of violating the Crown Lands Act. Provincial Court Judge Pat Curran ruled the Mi'kmaq did not prove they had a treaty right to harvest timber or that they had aboriginal title to the land.

The Mi'kmaq appealed the convictions to the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia. The convictions were upheld when the appeal was dismissed in March 2002.

The defendants then appealed the case to the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal found that the lower court made errors in law that required more evidence and ordered new trials on all the charges.

The Nova Scotia Public Prosecution Service is asking the Supreme Court of Canada to hear an appeal based on several grounds relating to treaty rights and to the claim of aboriginal title.