Canada (Department of Fisheries and Oceans) v. Canada (Department of National Defence), 1993 CanLII 3097 (NS CA)

This case was heard in the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal.

During a field exercise, a Canadian Armed Forces squadron caused a harmful alteration to a fish habitat in Wash Brook, Cape Breton County. In doing so, it violated s. 35(1) of the federal Fisheries Act. When the Department of Fisheries and Oceans ("DFO") initiated legal proceedings against the Department of National Defence ("DND"), the Provincial Court of Nova Scotia held that Her Majesty the Queen (as represented by the DND) could not be sued in this way. The DFO appealed to the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal, which set aside the lower court’s decision and ordered a full trial.

View the Decision on CanLII: https://www.canlii.org/en/ns/nsca/doc/1993/1993canlii3097/1993canlii3097.html

Disclaimer:
Case briefs in our Resource Library are drafted by law students who work or volunteer with East Coast Environmental Law, and East Coast Environmental Law does not guarantee their fullness or accuracy. Library users should not rely on case briefs as comprehensive accounts of the issues, facts, reasoning, or outcomes at stake in any given case. 

If you require more detailed information about a court decision or legal issue, please consider using our Environmental Law Inquiry Service to request information from our staff.