FREDERICTON, New Brunswick – In a decision that could have implications for the East Coast forestry industry, a New Brunswick court ruled in favor of an Indian logger who claimed he had a treaty right to harvest logs from Crown land.

The Court of Appeal said Thursday that Joshua Bernard, a Micmac from the Eel Ground Reserve near Miramichi, New Brunswick, has a treaty right to harvest and sell trees growing on Crown lands that were historically occupied by native people in that area.

The decision, expected to be appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada, could force the country’s logging industry to become more open to native participation in the same way that the Supreme Court’s landmark Marshall decision of 1999 forced the fishing industry to allow more Indian involvement.

“The emphasis is on assuring that the Micmac have equitable access to identified resources for purposes of earning a moderate living,” said the appeal court’s decision.

Bruce Wildsmith, the Nova Scotia native-rights lawyer who represented Bernard, described the decision as “momentous.”

“It’s a landmark decision in respect to forest resources in the way the Marshall decision was in relation to fishery resources,” Wildsmith said.

He noted the decision is stayed for one year, giving the province, the forestry industry and Indians time to negotiate a peaceful sharing of resources.

“We’ll be in a holding pattern for a year,” Wildsmith said. “There won’t be anarchy in the woods.”

One member of the three-member panel, Justice Alex Deschenes, maintained there was no treaty right. He argued Bernard’s original conviction for unlawful possession of Crown timber should stand.

But the other judges disagreed, including Justice Joe Daigle, who argued that not only does aboriginal title exist on the basis of historic use, but also that those rights have been infringed upon by the Crown with no proper justification.

Wildsmith described Bernard as “dumbfounded” by the decision.

“He wasn’t optimistic the court system would vindicate him and uphold his rights,” Wildsmith said.