Ahousaht Indian Band and Nation v. Canada (Attorney General) 2009 BCSC 1494, 2011 BCCA 237, 2011 SCC 56, [2011] 3 SCR 535, 2013 BCCA 300, 2018 BCSC 633, 2021 BCCA 155

The Ahousaht and four other nations of the Nuu-chah-nulth people on the west coast of Vancouver Island claimed an Aboriginal right to catch and sell any species of fish commercially. At trial, Justice Garson decided that they have an Aboriginal right to catch and sell any species of fish and that this right was being infringed by federal fisheries laws. The BC Court of Appeal affirmed this decision, but excluded geoduck clams from the right. In a subsequent trial, the issue was whether the infringements were justified. Justice Humphries decided that some infringements were unjustified, but at the same time she redefined and limited the right to fish commercially. The BC Court of Appeal held that she should not have redefined the right, and modified aspects of her judgment regarding infringement and justification with respect to specific species of fish.