This case was heard in the New Brunswick Court of Appeal.

After the Isbills were convicted in Provincial Court of having failed to obtain a permit before undertaking a watercourse or wetland alteration, the Isbills appealed to the New Brunswick Court of Queen’s Bench. After reviewing the relevant provisions of the Clean Water Act, the Court held that the Crown had failed to prove that the Isbills’ activities—which involved cutting trees along the banks of a small watercourse on their property—were prohibited by the Act. The Court therefore set aside the convictions that had been handed down by the Provincial Court.

The Crown appealed to the New Brunswick Court of Appeal, which reviewed the record and the relevant law and legal principles and held that Court of Queen’s Bench had erred in applying inappropriate interpretive principles to the Clean Water Act. By contrast, the Court of Appeal held that the Isbill’s activities were clearly prohibited by the Act, and it restored the Provincial Court’s conviction and sentence accordingly.

To read about this case in the New Brunswick Court of Queen’s Bench, go to Isbill et al. v. R., 2005 NBQB 442 (CanLII).