Photo by Rick and Janet Hughes
The BC Supreme Court has denied a stay application filed last month by the Highlands District Community Association (HDCA) to prevent OK Industries Ltd. (OKI) from starting work on a rock quarry in this rural residential community before its day in court.
The HDCA applied for a temporary injunction on Aug. 31 after finding out that OKI announced plans to start tree cutting and road building weeks in advance of a Supreme Court case into the validity of the provincial mining permit granted to OKI.
The work would involve significant tree clearing and blasting to carve an access road into the back of OKI’s 65-acre Highlands property to begin preparing the first portion of the property to be mined.
In June 2020, soon after the Province of BC approved a mining permit to OKI for a new rock quarry near the southern Millstream Road entrance to the Highlands municipality, the HDCA filed an application to the BC Supreme Court for a judicial review of the Province’s decision.
The court petition names the Attorney General of BC, the Minister of Mines, Energy & Petroleum Resources and the Chief Inspector of Mines, along with the project proponent, OKI. After the Attorney General pressed for time to prepare a defense, the Supreme Court scheduled a hearing for Oct. 19 – 22, 2020 in Vancouver.
In his ruling on the stay application issued Sept. 17, Honourable Mr. Justice Funt concluded “OKI’s site preparation activities are authorized by a presumptively valid quarry permit. OKI will suffer irreparable harm if the site preparation activities cannot be undertaken prior to the planned May 2021 start of Phase 1 quarrying.”
HDCA spokesperson Scott Richardson said he is disappointed with the Supreme Court’s decision on the stay request, but he remains optimistic that the upcoming judicial review will provide a fair hearing of the HDCA’s and the community’s concerns.
“We filed our stay application because we wanted the land kept in its current condition until the October Supreme Court hearing of our original challenge of the Province’s mining permit issued to OKI,” said Richardson. “All we can hope for now is that OK Industries respects and abides by our municipal bylaws and permits for tree cutting, riparian encroachment, blasting and rock and soil deposit and removal.”
Richardson pointed out that Justice Funt’s reasons for decision included the Mines Ministry’s directive that OKI is responsible “to ensure compliance with any other legal requirements that may apply,” including federal and provincial legislation and local government bylaws.
“If OKI wants to be part of the Highlands community, as they say they do, it would be appropriate for them to comply with our bylaws the same as any Highlands citizen would,” said Richardson.
The HDCA has remained strongly and vocally opposed to this strip mine since it was first proposed in 2016 and mounted a #NotOK campaign. A community petition against OKI’s proposal was signed by more than 1,000 residents (nearly half the municipality’s population of 2,200), and 3,000 others signed a Change.org petition.
The HDCA’s counsel is Ian Knapp at MacKenzie Fujisawa LLP in Vancouver.
For more information contact (weekends only):
Scott Richardson, Chair, Highlands District Community Association
Phone: 250-478-2526
Email: scott.richardson@shaw.ca