Derek Neary
Northern News Services

Vancouver, B.C. (Apr 28/00) - A federal court justice in B.C. has reserved her decision in a land dispute between the Liidlii Kue First Nation and the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development.

A judicial review, sought by LKFN, was held in Vancouver on April 14. The band is challenging DIAND's authority to issue a land-use permit to an Ontario resident who staked land across from the ferry landing last year in search of diamonds.

Jeff Rath, the LKFN's Calgary-based lawyer, suggested the band has essentially won the first round because the Crown brought forth an application to withdraw the permits just prior to the court date.

"They were forced to agree with LKFN that the permits were issued unlawfully," said Rath, adding that DIAND had been requested to quash the permits in December but would not comply at that time.

"It was kind of like a kid with his hand caught in the cookie jar ... I'm thinking they were ignoring it and hoping LKFN would go away and wouldn't take it to court."

Alison de Pelham, executive director for LKFN, said the band wanted a formal ruling on the matter.

"We're more than thrilled," she said of the application to have the land-use permits withdrawn. "We're hopeful that the review will indicate that the First Nation has not been deal with the way it should be in land matters."

Floyd Adlem, director of operations for DIAND, said DIAND doesn't have the option to withdraw the permit. He said they were actually "supporting a mediation process through the judge to resolve the issues around the land-use permit.

"The judge may have the ability to quash (the permit) but that's her decision and we don't know what that decision will be," Adlem said Tuesday. Madame Justice Reed's ruling could be rendered in a month or could take as long as six months to a year, said Rath.

The LKFN has also directly challenged the Territorial Land-Use Regulations.

"There's a good chance that the regulations themselves could be found to be unconstitutional, which will cause quite a stir," he said. "Let's face it, these little bureaucrats with their two-year forest ranger diplomas are way over their heads when it comes to dealing with treaty and aboriginal rights issues. They don't understand them and have no sympathy for them. As a result they make really bad decisions in terms of respecting those rights."

The case was heard in B.C. because the federal court, which has jurisdiction for the entire country, in Vancouver had the earliest open hearing dates, he said.