B.C. government ordered to pay logging company $1.75M over aboriginal blockade

VANCOUVER – A judge has ordered the B.C. government to pay a logging contractor $1.75 million because the province didn’t warn the company about an imminent First Nations blockade at the site.

Moulton Contracting sued the government, as well as the Fort Nelson First Nation and several band members involved in a blockade in late 2006.

George Behn and members of his family started the blockade in October 2006, preventing Moulton from removing logs harvested in an area in northeastern B.C.

Judge Anthony Saunders dismissed the case against the First Nation and the Behn family, but he ruled the provincial government failed to meaningfully consult with the First Nation.

Furthermore, Saunders says the province failed to warn the contracting firm that Behn had indicated his intention to block access to the site months before the company began its harvesting work.

The blockade meant the firm couldn’t sell timber to Canfor, which resulted in much of Moulton’s logging equipment being repossessed for missed payments.