Federal Court - Christian Aboriginal Infrastructure Developments ...

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require 200,000 m 3 of timber. According to Mr. Bourgh, the Minister said “well doesn’t sound
unreasonable to me” and left his special assistant to finish the meeting. Mr. Bourgh says that Mr.
Doughty stated “if you build a mill that will employ a hundred people, why wouldn’t we give you
the timber”; see page 644 of the transcript.
[278] In cross-examination, Mr. Bourgh conceded that no one had actually promised that LPL
2010 FC 495 (CanLII)
would be given tenure. Significantly, his evidence was that DIAND had told him that timber was
available for a project like the LPL mill. He testified that DIAND told him “that a consistent policy
of giving timber to somebody that was coming in and willing to build a mill was in progress and
they expected it to be completed soon”; see pages 664-667 of the transcript.
[279] Mr. Staffen testified, see page 907 of the transcript, that when discussing LPL’s proposal to
build a mill and the need for a long-term commitment of 200,000 m 3 of timber, that either the
Minister or Mr. Doughty “clearly said to us that if you do this, why wouldn’t the Government of
Canada give you a timber license”
[280] In other respects, Mr. Staffen’s memory of this meeting does not accord with the evidence
of the other witnesses. He testified that there was a second meeting scheduled with Minister Irwin
and Mr. Doughty for the following day. While Mr. Staffen was not cross-examined about the
commitment made by the Minister or Mr. Doughty, I do not find his evidence to be reliable about
this meeting and give it little weight.