R v Sappier and Polchies, 2003 NBQB 389

This appeal was heard before the New Brunswick Court of Queen’s Bench, Trial Division, and followed the decisions in R v Sappier and Polchies, 2003 NBPC 2, and R v Sappier, 2003 NBQB 228.

At trial, the Respondents Dale Sappier and Clark Polchies, were found not guilty of the charge of possessing timber taken from government lands contrary to the New Brunswick Crown Lands and Forest Act. They had successfully relied upon a treaty rights-based argument at trial, which was the basis on which government appealed the decision.

First, the government of New Brunswick argued that the trial judge had improperly concluded the Respondents had a treaty right to harvest timber from government land for personal use. Second, the government argued that the Court had erred in determining that if government did not establish provisions for the regulation of the treaty right to harvest within eight months, the Respondents would be free to exercise their right without regulation. Third, the government argued that it had not been proven that the Respondents were exercising the treaty right with the permission of their Indigenous community. On the first point, the Court found that the trial judge had appropriately looked to a historic perspective on treaty rights, and had not extended them by allowing harvested timber to be put to personal use. On the second point, the Court found that the government's position was a mischaracterization of the trial Court’s decision, and while the judge at that instance had been acting outside their inherent jurisdiction, the issue was ultimately not important. On the final point, the Court noted that proof of community support is unnecessary unless there is evidence to the contrary, and here, there was no such evidence.

For these reasons, the appeal was dismissed and the trial decision was upheld.

After this decision, the matters raised were brought before the courts again in the following decisions: R v Sappier and Polchies, 2004 NBCA 56, Gray v R, 2004 NBCA 57, Gray v R, 2004 CanLII 47133 (NB CA), and R v Sappier; R v Gray, [2006] 2 SCR 686, 2006 SCC 54.

View the Decision on CanLII: www.canlii.org/en/nb/nbqb/doc/2003/2003nbqb389/2003nbqb389.html

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