Companies argue judge should have shut door to expropriation in Wolastoqey Nation title claim [Video]

The Wolastoqey Nation’s title claim for more than half of New Brunswick was in court again Friday, this time because three timber firms are upset about a lower court ruling that did not explicitly state their land won’t be taken from them someday.

J.D. Irving, H.J. Crabbe and Sons, and Acadian Timber each presented separate motions before the Court of Appeal of New Brunswick in Fredericton, asking it to revisit a decision by Justice Kathryn Gregory of the Court of King’s Bench last November.

Although the Gregory agreed that the industrial defendants and everyday private property owners must be removed from the Wolastoqey lawsuit, their land is still part of the title claim.

She also wrote in her judgment that in the future it’s possible the Crown could expropriate their property and give it to First Nations communities, whose leaders say they never surrendered the land on their traditional territory.

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