This case was heard in the Federal Court of Canada.

Voisey’s Bay Nickel Company Ltd. (“VBNC”) proposed to develop a mine/mill operation at Voisey’s Bay in Labrador and a smelter/refinery operation at Argentia in Newfoundland. Because the proposals triggered assessments under the federal Fisheries Act and federal Navigable Waters Protection Act as well as Newfoundland and Labrador’s Environmental Assessment Act, the federal and provincial governments collaborated to develop an environmental assessment process that would meet both the federal and provincial obligations. It was agreed that two separate environmental impact assessments would be conducted, but the Citizens’ Mining Council of Newfoundland and Labrador Inc., (“CMCNL”)—a public-interest environmental group—took the view that the two developments should be assessed together as one project. The CMCNL made a request to the Department of Public Works asking that VBNC’s two developments be assessed as one project, but the Department denied the request. CMCNL then applied for judicial review of the process that led to the two developments being assessed separately rather than together.

After determining that CMCNL had standing to bring the application for judicial review and was not barred from doing so for any other reason, the Court went on to consider whether any error in law had been made by the respondent Ministers during their decision-making processes. The Court held that there had been no error in law, and that there was therefore no basis for the Court to interfere with the Ministers’ decision. The application for judicial review was therefore dismissed.

View the Decision on CanLII: https://www.canlii.org/en/ca/fct/doc/1999/1999canlii7759/1999canlii7759.html

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