B.C. businesswoman seeks judicial review to regain position as chief of Indigenous group

A B.C. businesswoman has applied for a judicial review to quash a decision by band councillors to oust her as chief of an Indigenous group in a prolific natural gas region.

Judy Desjarlais said in a filing this week in Federal Court that she was unfairly removed last month from her position as elected chief of the Blueberry River First Nations (BRFN) in northeastern British Columbia.

Ms. Desjarlais has been criticized for allegedly making decisions about natural resources without the consent of band councillors.

According to the notice of application for judicial review filed by her lawyers, she has been seeking a balanced approach to natural gas development and land stewardship.

“Her background is as a businesswoman. She is not a career politician and had not previously held any political office within the BRFN,” the notice said.

The filing names four band councillors as respondents: Wayne Yahey, Shelley Gauthier, Troy Wolf and Sherry Dominic.

Ms. Desjarlais, who is president of Top Notch Oilfield Contracting Ltd., was elected BRFN chief in January, 2022, for a four-year term.

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She “has faced significant, repeated and growing opposition from the Group of Four in respect of various issues,” the notice said.

Under the band council’s bylaws, each of five BRFN families is entitled to elect one family councillor, who in turn elect a chief.

“The BRFN has in recent times had an extremely acrimonious and fractured governance, resulting in at least 12 related legal proceedings since 2017,” said the notice, which argues that there was a failure to follow procedures outlined in bylaws for expelling a chief.

The court filing by the lawyers said a report into their client’s conduct, commissioned by the four councillors, should not be viewed as an independent review.

But a 50-page memorandum, issued last month by the councillors to BRFN members, alleges that Ms. Desjarlais wrote in 2023 to the BC Energy Regulator and granted five permit approvals to Petronas Energy Canada Ltd. without proper consultation with band councillors.

Malaysia’s Petronas wholly owns Calgary-based Petronas Energy Canada, which oversees natural gas assets in the North Montney region of northeastern B.C.

The Kuala Lumpur-based company is also a co-owner of LNG Canada through a separate wholly owned unit, North Montney LNG Limited Partnership.

London-based Shell PLC is the largest partner in LNG Canada, with a 40-per-cent stake, followed by Petronas at 25 per cent. The other co-owners are PetroChina (15 per cent), Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp. (15 per cent) and South Korea’s Kogas (5 per cent).

The contentious Coastal GasLink pipeline will transport natural gas from northeastern B.C. to LNG Canada’s terminal in Kitimat on the West Coast, where the fuel will be converted to liquefied natural gas. Exports of LNG to Asia are slated to start by mid-2025.

The elected band councils of 20 Indigenous communities along the Coastal GasLink route, including the BRFN, have signed project agreements with TC Energy Corp., which is the operator of the 670-kilometre pipeline.

The BRFN is located in Treaty 8 territory, where drilling for natural gas has been controversial.

“In the last several decades, the claim area has been subjected to intensive industrial development including, in particular, oil and gas activities and forestry,” according to the memo by the four councillors.

Ms. Desjarlais is seeking a Federal Court declaration that last month’s vote by the councillors to oust her from office has no legal force.

She found out about her dismissal through social media, her lawyers said.

“The action to remove an elected chief is a serious and exceptional matter for which relevant bylaws must be strictly complied with for the removal to be valid and lawful,” the notice said.