A Peace River judge has rejected an application to throw out the Lubicon Lake Nation’s case against Penn West Petroleum .
Lubicon Council is suing the energy company looking for recognition of Aboriginal title and authority over land. It alleges Penn West has violated environmental regulations related to oil and gas development.
According to the Nation, the Calgary-based company argued in March their action should be struck as it was an abuse of process and duplicative of a proceeding brought against Alberta and Canada. However, Justice Simpson decided that was not the case, in a ruling just released.
He added that private parties like oil companies can be liable for offences that happened before formal declarations of Aboriginal title. While he ordered changes to the Lubicon pleadings, they reportedly won’t change the nature of its case.