The Ontario government has agreed to suspend logging north of the English River in a territory five times the size of Toronto as an 11-year legal fight winds its way through the courts.

Last August, the Ontario Superior Court ruled the province does not have the power to take away treaty rights negotiated over 150 years ago by allowing industrial activity without the consent of Grassy Narrows First Nation. The decision is being appealed and is expected to be heard this fall.

But while all commercial logging cannot occur in the Grassy Narrows traditional area north of the river without the community’s consent, it can south of the river, said David Sone, a spokesperson for the environmental organization Earthroots.

“The people of Grassy Narrows and First Nations across the province have suffered for decades for decisions imposed on them and their land without their agreement,” Sone said. Grassy Narrows just discovered the court decision, even though it was made at the end of December 2011.

About 800 people live in Grassy Narrows, an Ojibwa band north of Kenora near the Manitoba border. Some have suffered serious health problems for years after a paper mill dumped 20,000 pounds of mercury in the Wabigoon-English river system between 1962 and 1970, aboriginal leaders say. Grassy Narrows’ main food source was fish from the river system.

This decision shows partial recognition by the government that it is wrong to impose activities like clear-cut logging, said Sone. But even as the government begins to recognize the principle they are planning for logging anyway against the objection of Grassy Narrows, he said.

Ontario is trying to negotiate respectfully with Grassy Narrows, said Minister of Natural Resources Michael Gravelle.

“I actually had an opportunity to meet with Chief Simon Fobister and the community late last year related to our hopes to be able to continue to harvest part of the Whiskey Jack Forest,” Gravelle said.

“They are as keen as we are to see a solution in terms of that portion of the Whiskey Jack that may be available for harvesting.”

This is the third time Ontario has agreed to protect tracts of land from developers.

Earlier in March, the province scrapped plans to expand mining of old-growth pines at Wolf Lake near Temagami. The province also removed 23,000 square kilometres of land near Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug First Nation, 400 km north of Red Lake, from future mining claims.

Grassy Narrows trapper and hunter Joseph Fobister filed the original lawsuit over a decade ago against the ministry of natural resources to stop development on their traditional lands.

“We have struggled for many years to save our way of life in the face of clear-cut logging, which has contaminated our waters and destroyed our lands,” Fobister said.

Grassy Narrows fears the province has created long-term plans for large clear-cuts south of the English River in the next 10 years. The plan comes into force this April, Fobister said.

“They did agree to no harvesting on the north side of the river while the appeal process happens,” Fobister said. “We aren’t happy with them approving long-term management direction because we’ve been in discussion with government for the last four years and none of what we’ve said appears in the direction.”