Canada appeals decision delaying N.W.T. land and water superboard

The federal government is appealing a recent court decisiondelayingthe government's plan to amalgamatethe territory's land and water boards and makeother changes to the N.W.T.'s regulatory system.

On Monday,lawyers for Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canadafiled theappeal with the Court of Appeal of the N.W.T.

"We have been clear that we will vigorously defend the new regulatory framework," a spokesperson for Aboriginal Affairs said.

The federal lawyers arearguing that an injunction granted by Northwest Territories Supreme Court Justice KaranShanerwas based on flawed legal reasoning.

Shaner granted the injunction on Feb. 27, at the request of the Tlichogovernment. Unless it's overturned,the current system of regional land and water boards remains in place at least until a larger court case about the constitutionality of merging the boards is heard.

"I think it's not in the least surprising," Nuri Frame, a lawyer for the Tlichogovernment, said of the appeal.

Frame saysthe earliest a public hearing on the appeal could be heard is June.

He says it's "premature" to say whether theTlichoGovernment would take its case for an injunction to a higher court if the N.W.T. court of appeal overturned the injunction.

Thesuperboard, which would remove theWek'eezhii,SahtuandGwich'inland and water boards, was supposed to launch next week.