Courts In B.C. And Ontario Stop Exploration On Mining Projects For Failure To Consult

On December 2, 2011, the B.C. Supreme Court, in Taseko Mines Limited v. Phillips (Taseko Mines)¹ granted the Tsilhqot'in First Nation's (Tsilhqot'in) application for an injunction to restrain Taseko Mines Limited (Taseko) from continuing exploratory work under two permits while the Tsilhqot'in pursued judicial review of B.C.'s decision to grant the permits. On January 3, 2012, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, in Wahgoshig First Nation v. Ontario and Solid Gold Resources Corp.² (Wahgoshig First Nation) came to the same result and granted the Wahgoshig First Nation (Wahgoshig) an injunction to stop Solid Gold Corp.'s (Solid Gold) exploratory work while the Wahgoshig claimed that the Crown's duty to consult had not been met. In both cases, the courts relieved the Aboriginal applicants from providing an undertaking for damages. Both courts took similar approaches to weighing potential harm when balancing commercial and Aboriginal interests and took similar positions