Native logger sentenced

The man who sparked the legal debate over native logging on crown land has finally been sentenced. Thomas Peter Paul of the Pabineau Reserve near Bathurst was arrested in 1995 and charged with illegal harvesting.

Two lower courts found Peter Paul not guilty, on the grounds he had a treaty right to the wood. That turned the forestry industry on its ear, as natives everywhere headed for the woods.

The New Brunswick Court of appeal overturned those decisions last year.

When the controversial decision granting natives the right to log crown timber was overturned Thomas Peter Paul was convicted of illegal harvesting.

At his first sentencing hearing a year ago, provincial court Judge Frederic Arseneault released Peter Paul without penalty. But, the crown appealed, and a second judge said only the court that convicted Peter Paul could release him unpunished.

So Monday, Peter Paul was once again before Judge Arseneault for sentencing. Peter Paul appeared without a lawyer, and read a prepared statement to the court, asking for leniency. "The provincial court has recognized our right to harvest wood on crown land but yet the province charged me and seized my equipment after the court acknowledged this right even as far as to sell a portion of my equipment at auction," he says. "This is the reason I feel that no fine should be imposed."

The crown asked for a $1,000 fine. But, the judge told the court that he believed Peter Paul was trying to prove his treaty rights and he imposed the smallest fine he could, of $120.

Peter Paul must still face two other charges of illegal harvesting but that trial has been postponed until May.

The delay will allow the courts to rule on the Joshua Bernard case, also involving treaty rights to crown land.

In the meantime, Peter Paul says he'll keep on logging.