Three Companies Convicted of Fisheries Act Violations

Three companies were charged with violating the Fisheries Act as to logging and road construction that resulted in the harmful alteration, destruction or disruption of fish habitat. The court ruled that, based on the testimony of expert witnesses and photographs of the damage caused by the defendants’ activities, the Crown had proven the violations beyond a reasonable doubt. It rejected the companies’ argument that the project supervisor they’d hired had exceeded his directions. And as none of them submitted any evidence, the court also rejected their claims of due diligence [R. v. Gwaii Wood Products Ltd., [2015] B.C.J. No. 2273, Oct. 19, 2015].