A BC Court of Appeal tribunal has overturned a lower court ruling that said the province was immune from a negligence claim for injuries on an alleged unsafe forest service road.
Leonard Chisholm sued Valemount Forest Products Ltd. and the Ministry of Forests, Land and Natural Resources Operations after his motorcycle hit a log and crashed June 16, 2010 on the West Canoe Forest Service Road near Valemount. Chisholm claimed the province was liable for failing to maintain the road in a safe condition.
The province responded that road use permit holder Valemount Forest Products Ltd. was responsible for maintenance. The company said the road was not being used for logging at the time, so the province was responsible for the maintenance.
A BC Supreme Court judge dismissed the claim after the province argued in 2023 that the Industrial Roads Act provided statutory immunity.
In the Monday, Feb. 18 reasons for judgment by Justice Karen Horsman, concurred by Justices Nitya Iyer and Peter Edelmann, the tribunal ruled that the Industrial Roads Act applies only to industrial roads.
The tribunal said the judge erred because, at the time of the crash, the road was a forest service road under the Forest Act.
“The key point for present purposes is that all parties agree that the road was a forest service road at the material time,” said the decision. “Therefore, the road was not an industrial road, and the immunity in section 24(3) has no application.”
