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BHP trial begins slowly

And quickly bogs down

Kevin Wilson
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Mar 20/02) - BHP Billiton's trial kicked off Monday morning, and seemed to bog down early in the afternoon.

BHP was charged in June 2000 with eight counts of violating the federal Fisheries Act by damaging fish habitat in three lakes near the Ekati diamond mine. Four of those charges were subsequently dropped.

nnsl photo

Judging from the amount of evidence and printed material on display in Territorial Supreme Court, Justice Ted Richard wont be short on reading material. A rough count of some of the material:

  • Two bankers boxes
  • Three lawyers attaches
  • 13 coil binders
  • 12 three-ring binders
  • A three-shelf book trolley laden with coil binders and three-ring binders
  • A trio of gigantic three-ring binders marked, Regina v. BHP Diamonds Inc.
  • Several maps
  • Two videotapes




    • Defence lawyer Ross Clark spent nearly an hour objecting to a line of questioning posed by Crown attorney John Cliffe.

    Cliffe was asking Department of Fisheries and Oceans biologist Julie Dahl about the meaning of sections of an authorization issued by DFO.

    Clark objected to three consecutive questions posed to Dahl.

    My friend (Cliffe) is basically feeding his argument to the witness, Clark suggested to Supreme Court Justice Ted Richard.

    Cliffe countered that there was no other way to ask the questions.

    Richard cautioned both lawyers that while he wanted, to help counsel ... I also want help from counsel.

    Earlier in the day, Richard dismissed a defence application to strike down one of the charges.

    The maximum penalty for a conviction on each charge is a $1 million fine.

    Prosecutors allege that a silt diversion channel created during Ekatis construction deposited silt and sediment into Kodiak Lake and two other lakes.

    BHP tried to have the charges stayed, saying DFO knew the bodies of water would be affected by the diversion channel.

    Another Crown witness said he noticed sediment in those lakes, during an aerial tour of the Ekati site and surrounding area.

    The trial will recess Friday, then resume May 6. It is expected to take eight weeks.