Jacqueline Mary Esmonde

Grassy Narrows First Nation applied for leave to appeal a decision by the Director of the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks to issue a Permit to Take Water to Great Bear Resources Ltd. for an advanced exploration gold mining program.

The Tribunal found that the Applicant met the standing requirements under the Environmental Bill of Rights.

Applying the leave to appeal test, the Tribunal concluded there was good reason to believe no reasonable person could have issued the Permit, as the Director failed to properly apply the precautionary principle, consider cumulative effects, and adopt an ecosystem approach in light of scientific uncertainty regarding mercury methylation and contaminant release.

The Tribunal also found that the decision could result in significant harm to the environment.

Leave to appeal was granted.

The moving party employer brought a motion to quash an application for judicial review filed by the responding party union on the basis of prematurity.

The union sought to review a labour arbitrator's preliminary award regarding time limits under the collective agreement, arguing exceptional circumstances existed because the grievance was a test case with broad implications.

The Divisional Court held that the application was premature, finding that an agreement to treat the underlying decision as a test case does not on its own justify early intervention and that the circumstances were not exceptional.

The motion to quash was allowed and the application was dismissed.