Achieving true consultation
https://www.lexpert.ca/article/what-adopting-undrip-may-mean/?p&sitecode=lex
The decision in
Delgamuukw v. British Columbia was rendered by the Supreme Court in 1997, followed by the landmark
Haida Nation v. British Columbia (Minister of Forests) in 2004.
Coldwater First Nation v Canada (Attorney General), rendered this year, was the Federal Court of Appeal dismissal of Indigenous groups’ appeal to stop the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion.
The
Coldwater case is important in that it clarifies how the duty to consult needs to be performed in certain circumstances, since it derives from the honour of the Crown. In its judgment, the FCA indicated that the requirements to consult are “not as stringent as we thought it would be; it's based on reasonableness, and no specific outcome to be reached.” The duty to consult doesn’t grant veto rights to oppose projects, and even in cases where deep consultation has occurred, the Crown is not obliged to reach an agreement with First Nations.
“It doesn’t impose a standard of perfection,” and courts do not need to become “an academy of science and look in detail at the scientific evidence.”
Vidrascu says that if the federal government applies the same wording that UNDRIP uses — “free, prior and informed consent” of First Nations to projects affecting them — it would overturn the
Mikisew Cree First Nation v. Canada (Governor General in Council)ruling of 2018.
“The SCC held that the duty to consult does not apply to legislation,” so the federal government would not have to consult First Nations before adopting legislation that affects them, he says.
“That would be a huge new thing, if the federal government was obliged to consult each and every time they draft a bill. Currently, they have to consult when they approve a project that impacts on the First Nations’ asserted or proved rights. So, that’s going to be a huge thing if the government keeps its promise to adopt” UNDRIP.
New Conservative party leader Erin O’Toole has promised a National Strategic Pipelines Act, which would allow the federal government to identify national strategic pipelines and subject the projects to expedited reviews if declared of national strategic interest. This would remove authority from the provinces to approve projects and may lead them to contest the act, Vidrascu says.
“That’s going to be almost certainly challenged by the provinces on a constitutional basis.”