This case involved an application by a licence holder for compensation arising out of the closure of the offshore seal fishery of Newfoundland. While the plaintiff was not successful in its primary objective, of obtaining compensation for the closure of the fishery, it obtained limited success in obtaining damages against the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (D.F.O.) for the failure …
Full SummaryR v. Cummins, 1997 CanLII 1659
This case involved an action for a declaration that that section 6 of the Aboriginal Communal Fishing Licences Regulations is invalid by reason of an unlawful sub delegation of legislative power. The Crown sought a stay of the proceedings on the grounds that the action was essentially a matter of judicial review which was within the exclusive jurisdiction of the …
Full SummaryLabrador Metis Assn. v. Canada (Minister of Fisheries and Oceans), 1997 CanLII 4864
This case involved a challenge by the Labrador Metis Association ("LMA") to the Minister of Fisheries for failing to respond to an application to issue it a communal fishing licence. D.F.O. presented evidence that it was concerned that a decision to issue a communal fishing licence could be interpreted my the LMA as recognition by the Government of Canada of …
Full SummaryCarpenter Fishing Co. et al v. Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, [1998] 2 FC 548
On December 23, 1997, a unanimous decision of the Federal Court of Appeal overturned the Carpenter Fishing Decision. Background Information This case involved a challenge to the Current Owner Restriction (C.O.R.) of the individual quota system (I.V.Q.) set up for the halibut fishery in 1990. When the I.V.Q. system was implemented, it allocated the total quota amongst the licence holders …
Full SummaryInternational Fund for Animal Welfare, Inc. v. Canada (Attorney General), 1998 CanLII 14751
1998) No. 98-CV-5100 Ontario Ct. of Justice (General Division) (Chadwick J.) This case involved a constitutional challenge of the conditions imposed upon observation licences for the East Coast seal fishery, issued under section 31 of the Marine Mammal Regulations. The Plaintiff argued that the conditions imposed upon the licences prevented the Plaintiff from fulfilling its mandate of informing the public …
Full SummaryMcKay v. Canada, 1998 CanLII 8916
This case involved an attack on the alleged privatization of the ground fish fishery in the Scotia-Fundy area by way of the creation of individual transferable fishing quotas. The case was brought as an action for both injunctive and declaratory relief. On a pre-trial application by the Defendant, the court struck the portions of the statement of claim asking for …
Full SummaryShubenacadie Indian Band v. Canada (Minister of Fisheries and Oceans), CanLII 16088
This case involved a Nova Scotia Indian Band which was relying upon the two R v. Marshall decisions (digested herein) in support of an application for an interlocutory injunction to enjoin D.F.O. from taking enforcement measures to prevent its members from participating in a Band regulated lobster fishery. The two main issues in the case were: (1)Whether the relief claimed …
Full SummaryMount Sinai Hospital Center v. Quebec, 2001 SCC 41
Although this is not a fisheries case, it is very similar to the Comeau’s Seafood decision of the S.C.C. (digested herein) in the sense that it dealt with an initial promise by a Minister to issue a licence (for a short term care hospital facility), subsequent reliance on that promise, and then a refusal to issue the licence. At the …
Full SummaryRadil Bros. Fishing Co. Ltd. v. Her Majesty the Queen et al., 2001 FCA 317
This case involved an appeal from an order of the trial division of the Federal Court (2000 F.C.J. 1885) allowing an appeal from an order of a Prothonotary (reported at (1999) 175 F.T.R. 182). The alleged facts, as taken from several of the judgements, are quite complicated as the case arose out of what is commonly called a “licence swap” …
Full SummaryCassie v. Canada (Minister of Fisheries and Oceans), 2001 FCT 379
This case involved an application by a group of snow crab fishermen for an injunction ordering the Minister of Fisheries to issue snow crab licences to them. Whether or not the court could issue an order of mandamus compelling the Minister to issue the requested licences. In denying the application, the court relied upon Hahlon v. Canada (Minister of Employment …
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