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der=0 cellpadding=3 cellspacing=0 width=100%> Logger will appeal treaty rights case
MAY 16, 2000

The Mi'kmaq logger who was found guilty of harvesting timber in April will appeal his case.

A provincial court in New Brunswick found Joshua Bernard of the Eel Ground First Nation guilty of harvesting timber near Miramichi. The court ruled that 18th century treaties do not give aboriginals the right to cut down trees on Crown land.

Bernard was fined $300 for the offense.

But his lawyer intends to appeal the case on several grounds and said the court was wrong to rule that logging was not part of aboriginal trade during the 18th century.

Judge Denis Lordon said the evidence pointed to trade in fur pelts, fish, baskets, canoes, and snowshoes, but not logs.

Mi'kmaq loggers hope Bernard's case will reach the Supreme Court and achieve the same results as last year's landmark Marshall decision. Like Bernard, Donald Marshall Jr. lost his fishing rights case in provincial court but fought the decision for several years.

Finally, in 1999, the Court upheld a 1760 treaty with the British and ruled that the Mi'kmaq and Maliseet have the right to earn a moderate livelihood through hunting and fishing.

A similar Mi'kmaq logging rights case is underway in Nova Scotia.