The claim arises from several Orders in Council the BC government issued under section 7 of the Environment and Land Use Act to sterilize the Companies’ mineral claims and prohibit any further exploration. This is the same section, of the same act, that the government used to shut down mining activity on part of Vancouver Island earlier this month.
“It is incredibly frustrating to have to sue our own government, after 35 years of being a pioneer in this industry and building a global market,” said Tony Ritter, President of Cassiar Jade. “I have dedicated my life to this industry and have an unblemished environmental record, so to be shut down for four years and counting is just devastating to me and the many people who worked for me.”
BC issued the Orders in Council in 2020 less than a year after the then President of the Tahltan Central Council, Mr. Chad Day, arrived at the Cassiar site in a helicopter and handed the company an “eviction notice”.
“We always had good relationships with our Indigenous friends and neighbours, and did not see this coming,” said Kristin Rosequist, President of Glenpark. “So if this is the government’s approach to reconciliation, then it is going to lose a lot of investment in BC.”
The lawsuit alleges, among other things, that the government has expropriated the Companies’ interests, harmed their businesses, and caused them to lose significant expenditures on the claims.
The Companies are represented by law firm McMillan LLP.
A copy of the filed Notice of Claim can be obtained by emailing joan.young@mcmillan.ca or tom.hatfield@mcmillan.ca
Media contact:
Tony Ritter, President, Cassiar Jade Contracting Inc.
rittertony@yahoo.ca
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
