Huu-ay-aht First Nations and legal counsel from Ratcliff & Company were presenting a Huu-ay-aht claim against Canada before the Specific Claims Tribunal last week in Vancouver.
The claim is connected to the timber claim that Huu-ay-aht won in 2016, but addresses the logging roads on and timber hauled through former Numukamis IR1 between the late 1940s and early 1980s.
Chief Councillor Robert Dennis (Emchaiik) and Hereditary Chief Jeff Cook (Yał luu?a) were witnesses at the hearing to provide information on their recollections of the Mainline Road and its impacts, forestry activity, and practices in the Sarita Valley. They also shared their perspectives on whether Canada upheld its obligations to the Nation in respect of the agreements reached for MacMillan Bloedel’s use of the logging roads on Huu-ay-aht’s reserve.