Canada pauses legal fight to launch N.W.T. land and water superboard

The Tlicho Government has scored another temporary victory in its legal fight to stop the creation ofa controversial N.W.T. land and water superboard.

The board which would amalgamate the regionally-focused Mackenzie Valley,Wek'ezhi,SahtuandGwich'inland and water boards into one Yellowknife-based board was supposed to launch last April.

• Tlicho injunction to delay launch of N.W.T. land and water superboard

MichaelMcLeod, the Northwest Territories' MP, says the new Liberal government has put its appeal of an injunction to delay the board's launch "in abeyance."

Translation: "The federal government has decided to push 'pause,'" saidNuriFrame, a lawyer for theTlichoGovernment.

"They've decided not to move forward with the appeal at this time."

In February, the N.W.T. Supreme Court granted theTlichoGovernment an injunction to delay the launch of thesuperboard, which aboriginal groups said would lessen their oversightinto how land and water is used in the Mackenzie Valley.

In March, the federal government appealed theinjunction.

Time needed to 'digest' complex file

McLeod said the federal ministers of Justice and Indigenous and Northern Affairs need more time to understand the case.

"[They] said they needed more time to ... have a whole opportunity to digest it," McLeod said.

Oral arguments on the appeal were expected to take place in either January or April.

"We won't be having an argument in January and I think probably we'll have to see how things play out to see if anything happens in April," said Frame.

The Tlicho Government formally supported Liberal candidate McLeod during his election campaign.