Dates set for Commonage rail court case

by Staff Writer - Vernon Morning Star posted May 5, 2015 at 10:00 AM
Legal action over the rail corridor along Kalamalka Lake is moving ahead. The chief and council of the Okanagan Indian Band, along with members of the OKIB, will attend B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver May 25 to 27 for the injunction hearing to stop the sale of the Commonage rail corridor. “Our legal team has confirmed these are the dates our application will be heard,” said Chief Byron Louis. “We have received the municipalities’ and CN Rail’s response and are waiting to receive the responses of Canada and B.C. to our statement of claim filed in March.” The OKIB filed a statement of claim in BC Supreme Court March 24 naming CN Rail, Canada, B.C., the District of Lake Country, the City of Kelowna and the Regional District of the North Okanagan as defendants, and asserting that 22 kilometres of the 50-kilometre rail corridor is not CN’s to sell. “The OKIB never legally surrendered the lands in question,” said Louis, adding that the public should get involved in the case. “Call your mayors, MPs and MLAs. When you learn about our case, the truth is hard, if not impossible to ignore.”