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Riverkeeper Urges Crown to Appeal
Provincial Court Grants Motion
to Dismiss GEMTEC Case
MONCTON, December 12, 2003 - Provincial
Court Judge Yvette Finn this morning granted a Defendant's motion
to have their case dismissed in the matter involving GEMTEC and
Robert G. Lutes in relation to the Moncton landfill case. The
Crown's request to reopen the case was also denied, which signals
the end of this trial. The Crown has 30 days to appeal the decision.
On February 8th, 2002, GEMTEC and Robert
G. Lutes, along with the City of Moncton and Geoff Greenough,
were charged with violating section 36 (3) of the Fisheries Act,
which prohibits the discharge of a deleterious substance into
a waterway frequented by fish. The City of Moncton subsequently
plead guilty to these charges and were ordered to clean up the
site, while the charges against Greenough were dropped and GEMTEC
and Lutes went on to fight the case in court.
On October 8th, GEMTEC's lawyers presented
a motion of non-suit on the charges arguing that the Crown had
not proven the date on which the Minister became aware of the
subject-matter of the proceedings. The Defendants argued that
Environment Canada would have known about the alleged offences
taking place at the Moncton landfill site as early as 1997, and
therefore waited too long to proceed with the charges. The Judge
agreed with the Defendants interpretation of this clause (Section
82 (2) of the Fisheries Act) and therefore granted the motion.
Petitcodiac Riverkeeper Daniel LeBlanc
was disappointed with the court's ruling and urged the Crown to
appeal the case. "It is very disappointing when cases get
thrown away on technicalities, and certainly so when these relate
to the environment", said LeBlanc. "We're hoping that
the federal government and the Crown will appeal this case, since
it has important implications on the manner in which the Fisheries
Act and other environmental laws are enforced in this province".
INFORMATION:
Daniel LeBlanc, Petitcodiac Riverkeeper
(506) 388-5337 - www.petitcodiac.org
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