By Sonal Gupta, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Canada’s National Observer The BC Supreme Court has set aside the transfer of a major forest licence in northwestern BC after ruling the province failed to properly consult to arrange a fair deal. The province granted the license to the Kitsumkalum First Nation in 2024 after Skeena Sawmills went bankrupt. The province’s top court ruled the province breached its duty to consult the neighboring Gitanyow, because that First Nation also wanted to buy the sawmill in 2023. In a decision released on Jan. 7, Justice F. Matthew Kirchner ordered the province to restart the consultation. The proposed transfer would have granted Kitsumkalum, another First Nation based near Terrace, the timber rights in the Lax’yip — territory that the Gitanyow Hereditary Chiefs are already…
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