Image Credit: WIKIPEDIA/Patterson-Gimlin Film

NEW WESTMINSTER - Most people in the province have an opinion on whether or not Sasquatch really exists, but a B.C. man took his belief in the creature to a whole new level.

Todd Standing sued B.C.'s Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development, aiming for the provincial government to declare that Sasquatch is in fact an Indigenous creature of our province. He sought a declaration from a judge that "Sasquatch is a hominoid or primate (Giganto Horridus Hominoid and/or Gigantopithecus) type of species, also known as a bigfoot, and is an indigenous mammal living within British Columbia. 

Standing claimed in his notice of civil claim that the province infringed upon his fundamental human right, as it relates to his concerns regarding Sasquatch and claimed the province committed a "dereliction of duty, in regard to recognizing and protecting the Sasquatch species, a hominoid or primate, also known as bigfoot." In a written decision last week by Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Ball, the provincial government argued Standing's claims is based on assumptions and speculation, lacks an air of reality, and his statements of fact are "ultimately incapable of proof."

The province added that no legal right of Standing's had been infringed or violated, and said his claim was frivolous and an abuse of process.

In his response, Standing said that the province "knew or ought to have known the existence of sasquatch" and that the species is likely at risk, threatened, or endangered. He added that the province had done nothing to substantiate or acknowledge the existence of sasquatch, and that there are no safeguards in place to protect the species from being killed.

He denied that his statements were speculative due to the strength of video evidence he's captured of sasquatch.

In Ball's short written decision, he stated none of Standing's rights had been infringed due to the government's inaction on recognizing sasquatch as a species, and added his claim had no prospect of success.

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