Vancouver Island First Nation awarded $13.9 million over historic logging rights
BAMFIELD, B.C. — A Vancouver Island First Nation has been awarded $13.9 million after a tribunal ruled Canada “failed completely” in its duty to consult over a logging licence.
The Huu-ay-aht First Nation was awarded the compensation by the specific claims tribunal, a panel that decides First Nations’ claims. The tribunal ruled in 2014 that Canada breached its fiduciary duty to the community.
The ruling says in 1938, the Huu-ay-aht, located on the west coast of Vancouver Island, surrendered all its marketable timber on its largest reserve to Canada. The federal government agreed to sell the timber on terms “most conducive” to the First Nation’s welfare.
The federal government issued a logging licence to a company called BSW Ltd. in 1942 with a special condition that allowed it a 21-year term that could be renewed, the ruling says.