A group of companies (the proponents) applied to the National Energy Board (NEB), a federal statutory body, for approval of seismic testing for oil and gas off the east coast of Baffin Island in Nunavut. The Inuit of Clyde River have treaty rights under the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement (1993) to harvest marine mammals in the waters where the testing would take place. After consultation with the Inuit communities concerned, the NEB approved the project. The Hamlet of Clyde River brought an application for judicial review, asserting their opposition to the seismic testing and claiming inadequate consultation. The Supreme Court decided that the consultation and proposed accommodation measures were inadequate, given the cultural significance of the marine mammals to the Inuit, their importance as a source of food and of materials for clothing, and the potential risks of the seismic testing for the treaty rights. The Court quashed the NEB's authorization of the seismic testing.