Court Rejects Attempt to Exclude Indigenous Group from Judicial Review

ROSSLAND, BC, CANADA, April 15, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- A procedural hearing was held on Tuesday, April 14 at the Rossland Courthouse ahead of a judicial review scheduled for May. That review will examine the Province’s decision not to require an environmental assessment for the proposed Record Ridge mine.

The matter involves a Calgary-based junior mining company and the Save Record Ridge Action Committee (SRRAC), a local public interest group representing residents and business owners in the Rossland area. The Sinixt peoples, whose ancestral territory includes the Rossland area, are also seeking to participate in the judicial review.

The mining company brought the application seeking to exclude Sinixt from participating in the upcoming judicial review.
Multiple Sinixt members were present at the hearing on Tuesday, along with staff from their office in Nelson, B.C.

Dozens of SRRAC members and supporters also attended. The courtroom was once again full, with the balcony opened to accommodate the crowd. All three directors of SRRAC were present in the court, along with legal counsel.

It appeared that representatives from the company did not attend either in person or online; the company’s legal counsel appeared virtually.

Counsel for Sinixt argued that inclusion is in the interests of justice and efficiency, noting that it makes no sense to run multiple, separate proceedings on the same issue. Both Sinixt and SRRAC applied for an environmental assessment of the same project around the same time, received a single combined decision from the government, are challenging that same decision, and are seeking the same remedy: an environmental assessment of the Record Ridge open pit mine.

Counsel for Sinixt emphasized that they had made efforts to accommodate alternative approaches to their involvement, while the company declined to engage on any workable solution. Counsel for both Sinixt and SRRAC also noted that the company has still not filed a response to SRRAC’s petition for judicial review, now more than six months overdue.

The Province took no position on the application.

The matter was heard by Associate Judge Stephen Schwartz, who dismissed the company’s application in full, finding there was no legal basis for the request and that it was unnecessary. The Court also ordered that the company pay legal costs to both SRRAC and Sinixt.

The ruling marks the second consecutive legal defeat for the company in a matter of weeks. On March 11 a Supreme Court judge issued an injunction stopping the mine from going ahead until the judicial review of the Province’s decision has been heard and decided.

Earlier in the regulatory process, the project was proposed as an industrial quarry with a stated production capacity of 200,000 tonnes per year. The BC Environmental Assessment Office determined that the project was a mineral mine and required an Environmental Assessment (EA). Following that determination, the proponent revised the project, reducing the stated production capacity to 63,500 tonnes per year, which is below the 75,000-tonne per year threshold that triggers an EA for a mineral mine. The revised project remains essentially the same as the original 200,000-tonne project but is being treated as no longer requiring an EA. This is the matter that SRRAC is challenging in court.

SRRAC has also filed a petition for judicial review of the project’s Mines Act permit, arguing that it was issued without sufficient baseline data on air quality, water contamination, and on the asbestos that is present in the rock; that expert evidence showing the project is overbuilt was disregarded; and that economic impacts to the tourism industry were not addressed, among other concerns.

Record Ridge is located approximately seven kilometres southwest of Rossland and is a recognized BC Resort Municipality with an economy strongly dependent on outdoor recreation and tourism. Record Ridge sits within a landscape widely used for recreation by citizens from across BC and the Pacific Northwest more broadly.

The proposed mine would be immediately adjacent to the internationally renowned Seven Summits Trail and only a few kilometers from the boundaries of Red Mountain Resort, which attracts visitors from across BC and from around the world.

The Record Ridge area also contains multiple rare ecosystems, including alpine grasslands and old-growth forests, and is recognized internationally as a Key Biodiversity Area.

Melanie Mercier
Save Record Ridge Action Committee Society
+1 613-297-1303
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