- Parties: The applicant was Shelburne Elver Limited. The respondent was His Majesty the King (Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard).

- Subject Matter: For a number of years, the applicants in the files T-866-22, T-923-22, and T-1804-22 each held an annual commercial fishing licence to fish an individual quota or catch limit of 1,200 kilograms of elver. The Minister of Fisheries and Oceans decided to reduce the allocated individual quota for the 2022 fishing season by 13.7 percent to support increased First Nations access to the fishery. The reduction of individual quota was implemented without financial compensation to the licence holder. Each applicant filed a notice of application seeking judicial review of this decision. The applicants challenged the process leading to the decision and the substance of the decision itself, specifically the Minister’s departure from the “willing-buyer, willing-seller” model and the reduction in their respective individual quotas of prior years without financial compensation.

- Ruling: The court ruled in the respondent’s favour and dismissed the judicial review application. The court held that the decision was administrative in nature, that the Minister’s process for making the decision was fair, and that the decision was reasonable in light of the Minister’s broad discretion to manage Canadian fisheries.

- Date: The hearing was set on Feb. 28, 2023. The court released its decision on Aug. 29, 2023.

- Venue: This was a federal case before the Federal Court.

- Amount: No financial award was specified.