Canadian Court Clarifies Aboriginal Rights Over Energy Projects Affecting Their Lands

摘要

The duty of Canadian governments to accommodate aboriginal groups on major energy projects that affect their traditional lands is limited by the strength of claims to aboriginal title to the land and the significance of a project's potential environmental impacts, says the Federal Court of Appeal. A recent precedent-setting ruling by the Supreme Court of Canada that declared the duty of governments to accommodate aboriginal concerns does not help the Innu of Ekuanitshit aboriginal group in Quebec, which claimed that the federal government failed to fully consult it on concerns about the Lower Churchill hydroelectric power project in Newfoundland and Labrador, the appeals court said in an Aug. 22 ruling.