Halalt First Nation in the Cowichan Valley has launched a class-action lawsuit against private forest giant Mosaic Forest Management and three levels of government for damages related to flooding on the band’s reserve on the lower Chemainus River.
The B.C. Supreme Court action names several “forestry defendants,” including Mosaic, TimberWest, Island Timberlands and the Municipality of North Cowichan for logging that contributed to downstream flooding.
Mosaic is the timberlands manager for TimberWest and Island Timberlands, which are owned by public pension funds.
The suit alleges the forestry defendants “conducted their forestry operations in a careless and reckless manner” by overharvesting and failing to manage and clear harmful logging debris. It also says logging caused increased surface runoff, sedimentation and riverbank erosion in the Chemainus River watershed.
“Mosaic Forest Management takes these claims very seriously,” the company said in a written statement. “However, we are unable to comment on the specifics of the claim at this time, as the matter is currently before the courts.”
The main stem of the Chemainus River flows some 64 kilometres — most of that through Mosaic lands — to Stuart Channel, north of the Crofton pulp-and-paper mill.
The suit also names the federal and provincial governments, Island Corridor Foundation and Managed Forest Council, which is an independent provincial agency.
All three levels of government also declined to comment on the legal action.
Indigenous Services Canada noted that “negotiations and collaborative dialogue” are the best way to resolve outstanding issues.
Halalt Chief James Thomas declined to comment at this time.
The list of alleged impacts on the reserve from flooding include septic-field failures, increased insurance rates, damage to buildings and properties plus the cost to raise buildings, contaminated drinking water, flooding of a graveyard, “complete destruction of Halalt's fish hatchery” and lost fish habitat.
The Chemainus River is home to several species of salmon, including Chinook, coho and chum, although numbers are thought to have diminished over the decades. Fisheries and Oceans Canada is working with First Nations on long-term monitoring of stocks.
The suit claims that the Trans-Canada Highway and the unused E&N rail line have contributed to the ongoing flooding problems, including through inadequately maintained rail drainage culverts. The Halalt also claim “impairment” of Indigenous rights to fish and carry out cultural practices, resulting in emotional, psychological and cultural harm.
The Halalt reserve is home to 217 residents, many of them “multi-generational residents, using below-ground areas as living space,” the band says. The reserve — initially 40 hectares, with another 75 hectares added in 1877 — was “placed entirely within the floodplain of the Chemainus River,” court documents claim.
The class action is filed by Halalt First Nation and Kristin Thomas — “a resident of Halalt Indian Reserve No. 2, whose property and place of residence were made uninhabitable due to the extensive damage caused by the catastrophic flooding event” of Nov. 14-15, 2021.
The Halalt launched a civil claim in 2023, but that was amended as a class proceeding — including North Cowichan as a defendant — in early 2024.
The legal action has become public now as a result of this reporter finding the records in B.C. Supreme Court files.
Mosaic is the largest private-lands logging company in B.C.
North Cowichan’s logging interests are much smaller, concentrated within the 5,000-hectare Municipal Forest Reserve — part of the coastal Douglas-fir biogeoclimatic zone, the smallest and most at-risk forest type in B.C.
Portions of the forest reserve border the Chemainus River, including Mount Sicker and the Grace Road area north of Duncan.
In response to citizen concerns, council suspended logging in the forest reserve in 2019 pending consultations with the public and First Nations.
Last year, the public showed 76-per-cent support for conservation management of the forest reserve, which is popularly known as the Six Mountains — Prevost, Sicker, Richards, Maple, Tzouhalem and Stoney Hill. Status-quo logging scored 17 per cent.
Private talks continue with Quw'utsun Nation, representing five local First Nations, including Halalt, several of which are engaged in forestry.
The province has spent about $6 million on initiatives related to the 2021 flooding event on the lower Chemainus River, including the removal of sediment, creation of a flood-barrier wall, weirs to reduce bank erosion, and disaster financial assistance to local communities.
A version of this article first appeared in Six Mountains.
Read more: Indigenous, Rights + Justice, Environment
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