Case information

Aboriginal law — Crown’s duty to consult — Civil procedure — Stay — Provincial government issuing order authorizing work for wind project — First Nation challenging issuance of order and alleging inadequate consultation — Trial judge dismissing application for provisional stay — Court of Appeal dismissing application for leave to appeal from trial judgment — Where there is clear prima facie case for constitutional duty to consult and where Crown has refused without justification to comply with this constitutional imperative, whether it is legally possible for order to have been made in public interest — Whether Superior Court erred in declining to stay implementation of order — Whether Court of Appeal had to render judgment in accordance with well known criteria and principles of Aboriginal law — Whether appeal judge, like Superior Court, erred in disregarding essential principles relating to duty to consult — Whether lower courts gave proper weight to violation of constitutional imperative of consultation — Whether appeal judge’s decision was contrary to state of law on question of constitutional stay and whether it compromises public interest and consultation process.

Case summaries are prepared by the Office of the Registrar of the Supreme Court of Canada (Law Branch). Please note that summaries are not provided to the Judges of the Court. They are placed on the Court file and website for information purposes only.

The applicant, the Huron Wendat Nation, challenged the issuance of an order by the Quebec government authorizing work for a wind project. The applicant brought an application for judicial review, seeking an order declaring the government’s order invalid and unconstitutional because of inadequate consultation. The application was accompanied by an application to stay the implementation or enforcement of that order provisionally, until a final judgment had been rendered on the matter.

The trial judge of the Quebec Superior Court dismissed the applicant’s application for a provisional stay. A judge of the Quebec Court of Appeal sitting alone dismissed an application for leave to appeal from the trial judgment.