The government has won a reprieve in its dispute with the Nunatsiavut Government over revenues from the Voisey’s Bay Project.

But it came with some stern words from the province’s highest court.

The Nunatsiavut Government is supposed to get 5 per cent of revenues from the project. But they claim the govenment held back millions from amendments that were made without consulting them.

The government says they didn’t have to consult or pay out more, because it involved operations at Long Harbour, on the island, and didn’t relate to the Voisey’s Bay “area.”

The Supreme Court sided with the Inuit—but that was overturned this week by the Court of Appeal, which said it should never have come before the courts in the first place and should have been settled by arbitration.

They said it was on governmet to raise the issue from the start, but by “acquiescence or neglect, failed in its duty to behave honourably toward reconciliation.”

Nunatsiavut lawyers were scolded to a lesser extent for turning a blind eye to the process.

The dispute has been sent back to arbitration, as stipulated in the 2004 land claims agreement.

The final ruling there can be appealed to the courts.