Law360 Canada ( April 1, 2026, 9:41 AM EDT) -- Appeal by the Gwich’in Tribal Council (GTC) from the dismissal of its judicial review application. The application challenged the Gwich’in Land and Water Board’s (GLWB) decision to renew a Type B water licence for KBL Environmental Ltd.’s (KBL) soil treatment facility (STF) in Inuvik. GTC argued that the GLWB’s process was procedurally unfair, that the Crown’s duty to consult was not met, that the STF was a transboundary project outside the GLWB’s jurisdiction, that a preliminary screening was required for the renewal, and that the licence renewal decision was unreasonable. The record showed that since 2017, KBL engaged with GTC on the initial, amended, and renewal applications, and that GTC did not object to the amended licence allowing acceptance of contaminated water. For the 2022 renewal, GTC initially confirmed no concerns but later raised issues about management of contaminated soil, requested a public hearing, and attempted to provide late submissions. The GLWB considered inspection findings, public interest factors, its Rules of Procedure, the closed record, and KBL’s responses, and declined to hold a hearing or accept late evidence. In the renewal decision, it found consultation adequate, no transboundary impacts, and no change in scope requiring a new preliminary screening. GTC argued on appeal that the judge erred in applying reasonableness instead of correctness to the public hearing issue, in finding consultation sufficient, in accepting the GLWB’s jurisdiction, in treating the preliminary screening argument as a collateral attack on the 2021 amendment, and in concluding the licence renewal decision was reasonable....