Newfoundland (Minister of Natural Resources) v Ploughman et al, 1995 CanLII 10524 (NLSC)
This case was heard before the Newfoundland Supreme Court, Trial Division.
The defendants, Gene Ploughman and Thorburn Aviation Limited, had built a commercial hunting and fishing cabin on lands that were part of the Bay du Nord Wilderness Reserve. In response, the Newfoundland Minister of Natural Resources filed an Order under section 30 of the Newfoundland and Labrador Lands Act, which prohibits building on nature reserves. The Minister's Order directed the defendants to remove the cabin and return the land to the provincial government in its original state.
At trial, the defendants argued that the land in question was the subject of an Indigenous land claim by Mi'kmaq, but, at the time this case was heard, that claim had not yet been filed and so was not recognized by the Court. The defendants also attempted unsuccessfully to argue that they had been specifically targeted, but the Court rejected that argument, as it held that the provincial government’s policy of removing illegal cabins had been consistently applied in other instances. For these reasons, the Court ordered the defendants to return the land to the provincial government. Although the Court found that the order to remove the cabin fell outside the scope of authority granted by section 30 of the Lands Act, the Court held that the government could make that order under the authority of a different section of the same Act.
View the Decision on CanLII: https://www.canlii.org/en/nl/nlsctd/doc/1995/1995canlii10524/1995canlii10524.html
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