Aboriginal Peoples and Resource Development in Northern Alberta
Description:... The members of the Board of Directors are appointed by the Faculty of Law at the University of Calgary, the President of the University of Calgary, the Benchers of the Law Society of Alberta, the President of the Canadian Petroleum Law Foundation, and the Dean of Law at The University of Alberta. [...] The report is in five parts: 1) a brief discussion of Aboriginal and treaty rights in the context of Treaty 8; 2) a review of the provincial government's policies and commitments with respect to Aboriginal Peoples; 3) an assessment of the extent to which the legal and regulatory regime applicable to resource development accommodates the rights and interests of Aboriginal Peoples; 4) a case study o [...] Pursuant to the written text of Treaty 8, the Aboriginal signatories agree to "cede, release, surrender and yield up to the Government of the Dominion of Canada ... all their rights, titles, and privileges whatsoever to the lands included" within the treaty.13 In exchange, the treaty recognizes to the Aboriginal signatories the right to continue hunting, trapping and fishing throughout the area enco [...] A long line of decisions by the Supreme Court of Canada has established that the oral terms and the understanding of the meaning and intent of a treaty by the Aboriginal parties are equally important in the interpretation of its terms.16 Further, the courts have held that "treaties should be interpreted in a manner that maintains the integrity of the Crown, particularly the Crown's fiduciary oblig [...] As noted by the Supreme Court in the Badger case, "it is clear that for the Indians the guarantees that hunting, fishing and trapping rights would continue was the essential element which led to their signing of the treaties".18 In 1930, the federal government transferred control and ownership of Crown lands and natural resources to the three Prairie provinces under the Natural Resources Transfer.
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