‘We have been stripped of our right to defend our livelihood in court,’ says Michael Malouf
GREENSTONE — A Geraldton-based prospector is upset after being removed from a lawsuit by Ginoogaming FIrst Nation over mineral exploration in its traditional territory.
The First Nation unexpectedly served a Notice of Discontinuance last month to halt its court case against Michael Malouf and another area prospector, while continuing the same action against the Ontario government.
The move came just weeks before a scheduled court hearing — now cancelled — of an application by Malouf to transfer the case from Toronto to Thunder Bay. That application was opposed by Ginoogaming.
In a notice of motion, Malouf had argued that that Thunder Bay was the more appropriate location for the trial because the District of Thunder Bay was where all the events that gave rise to the dispute have occurred, because the outcome will have reverberating effects on the mining and natural resources industries in the district, and because “the Thunder Bay court is naturally far better informed of and sensitive to the realities of the local Indigenous, mining and natural resource issues.”
For the rest of this article: local-news/ginoogaming-first-nation-removes-prospectors-from-lawsuit-7415770
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