Manitoba First Nation seeks court order to halt logging in Duck Mountains

A Manitoba First Nation is taking the provincial government to court to halt logging at Duck Mountain Provincial Park until it provides an approved plan for how it will protect the area and fulfil its Treaty 4 obligations.

Minegoziibe Anishinabe, also known as Pine Creek First Nation, filed the application on April 12 in the Court of Kings Bench.

It seeks an order to terminate the province's decision to extend its agreement with Louisiana-Pacific Canada Ltd. that allows it to harvest timber in the western Manitoba provincial park.

The province quietly extended its agreement with the U.S forestry giant through an order-in-council at the end of March.

The application names the province and Louisiana-Pacific.

It also asks for a court order to prohibit the province from licensing forestry activities in the area known as Forest Management Licence 3 – which includes the Duck Mountain Provincial Forest and surrounding area – until it fulfils its obligations to surrounding First Nations.

Three Manitoba First Nations – including Minegoziibe Anishinabe – raised concerns about the licence in February, asking the province to involve them in the decision-making before further forestry activities with Louisiana-Pacific are approved. 

At the heart of the argument is a forest management plan (FMP) that the First Nation alleges has not been approved and goes against Manitoba's Forest Act.

Such plans require the licence holder (in this case Louisiana-Pacific) to submit a complex blueprint outlining its 20-year plan for the area. They must consult with First Nations before the province reviews it and approves it.

"In 2012 Manitoba agreed to consider other logging practices to protect moose habitat," Minegoziibe Anishinabe Chief Derek Nepinak said in the February press release.

"More than 12 years later Manitoba is still without a viable plan. This failure has negative impacts on our ability to bring our traditional healthy foods home to our families."

Minegoziibe Anishinabe is located the southwestern side of Lake Winnipegosis, east of Duck Mountain Provincial Park and about 100 kilometres north of Dauphin. 

The province first entered into a 20-year agreement with Louisiana-Pacific in 1994, and a 10-year FMP was approved in 1996, the application states.

However, since its expiration in 2006, no further management plans have been approved. Instead, the application says, the provincial government has continued to extend the agreement.