Turtle Talk

The British Columbia Salmon Farmers Association was granted leave to intervene in an appeal from an order certifying a class action involving the Kwicksutaineuk/Ah-Kwa-Mish First Nation.  Here’s the decision.   Below is an excerpt.

Application by the British Columbia Salmon Farmers Association for leave to intervene in an appeal from an order certifying the present action as a class action. The First Nation plaintiffs alleged that the province’s licensing of fish farms and exercise of regulatory authority over their operation had resulted in sea lice infestations in wild salmon stocks, and that this constituted an infringement of the fishing rights of proposed members of the class. The applicant was a provincial industry organization that represented the interests of the companies that worked on salmon farms and that provided services and supplies to salmon farms in the province. The applicant argued that the certification decision had caused significant concern and uncertainty amongst its membership regarding how it might affect their operations and relationships with First Nations and that the interests of its members and their perspective would not be adequately represented by the government appellants. The applicant sought intervenor status on the appeal to provide its perspective on the issues of whether there was an identifiable class and whether the claims of the class members raised common issues.

HELD: Application allowed. The applicant could intervene on the issue of which common issues the class members’ claims could properly raise. The applicant could not be said to have had a direct interest in the limited appeal unless the action remained certified. The outcome of the appeal had, however, a dimension that might legitimately engage the interests of the applicant and its members. The court could fully determine the question of an identifiable class without the need for any assistance from the applicant. As to whether the claims of the class members raised common issues, the applicant’s experience in aquaculture in general and salmon farming in particular, had provided it with a special interest and concern, in respect of which it was in a position, by reason of the long and full consideration which it had given to the issues related to those pursuits, to make a valuable contribution with respect to the common issues that the class members’ claims could properly raise.