Author Archives: David Laidlaw

About David Laidlaw

David K. Laidlaw, B.Sc. Computer Science and Economics, University of Calgary, 1985; LL.B. Dalhousie University 1988 and LL.M. University of Calgary 2013, admitted to the Alberta Bar in 1989. After 20 years in private practice in Calgary, David has returned to Law School to obtain his LL.M. in 2013. Having practiced briefly in Aboriginal law in the early 1990s, his ongoing interest in the area has led him to explore Aboriginal law and its implications. He is currently engaged in research in aboriginal issues for the Canadian Institute of Resources Law (CIRL). In addition to Aboriginal law, his research interests include legal history and the philosophy of law.

Lower Athabasca Regional Plan 10-Year Review Part 3: LARP’s Management Frameworks

By: David Laidlaw

Matter Commented on: Lower Athabasca Regional Plan

PDF Version: Lower Athabasca Regional Plan 10-Year Review Part 3: LARP’s Management Frameworks

This is the third and final post related to the Lower Athabasca Regional Plan’s 10-year review, which was required pursuant to section 6 of the Alberta Land Stewardship Act, […]. Part 1 set out the background necessary to understand Alberta’s land use framework, while Part 2 got into the details of the Lower Athabasca Regional Plan (LARP). This part focuses on LARP’s various environmental management frameworks. Continue reading →

Lower Athabasca Regional Plan 10-Year Review Part 2: Alberta’s Regional Plan Development

By: David Laidlaw

Matter Commented on: Lower Athabasca Regional Plan

PDF Version: Lower Athabasca Regional Plan 10-Year Review Part 2: Alberta’s Regional Plan Development

In the development of regional plans, Alberta appoints selected stakeholders to provide advice in the form of a Regional Advisory Council (RAC) in conjunction with opportunities for public consultation, with the provincial Cabinet making the final regional plan, as set out in Part 1 of this post. Continue reading →

Lower Athabasca Regional Plan 10-Year Review

By: David Laidlaw

Matter Commented on: Lower Athabasca Regional Plan

PDF Version: Lower Athabasca Regional Plan 10-Year Review

The Land Use Secretariat (LUS) had commenced the 10-year review  of the Lower Athabasca Regional Plan on August 26, 2022, according to the August 29, 2022 News Release, this review was intended to give advice to the Alberta government to “assess the ongoing relevancy and effectiveness of the existing plan in supporting the long-term vision for economic, social and environmental needs in the region.” This is required under section 6(1) of the Alberta Land Stewardship Act, SA 2009, c A-26.8 (ALSA), as previously written about by Professors Mascher, Bankes, and Olszynski. The Lower Athabasca Regional Plan (LARP) was approved in August 22, 2012 with Order in Council 268/2012 as a cabinet level regulation with LARP becoming effective on September 1, 2012. As noted in the LARP Review webpage, “[a) 10-year review does not amend, repeal or replace the regional plan. The 10-year review will result in a report from the Land Use Secretariat to the Stewardship Minister on the ongoing relevancy and effectiveness of the regional plan.” Continue reading →

Bill C-69, the Impact Assessment Act, and Indigenous Process Considerations

By: David Laidlaw

PDF Version: Bill C-69, the Impact Assessment Act, and Indigenous Process Considerations

Legislation Commented On: An Act to enact the Impact Assessment Act and the Canadian Energy Regulator Act, to amend the Navigation Protection Act and to make consequential amendments to other Acts (Bill C-69)

On February 8, 2018, the Minister of the Environment and Climate Change [Minister] submitted Bill C-69 for first reading. Bill C-69, should it pass, proposes to enact the Impact Assessment Act [IAA], continue the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency under the name Impact Assessment Agency of Canada [Agency], establish the Canadian Energy Regulator [CER] to replace the National Energy Board, and amend the Navigation Protection Act, RSC 1985, c N-22 with consequential amendments. Continue reading →

Silencing the Qat’muk Grizzly Bear Spirit

By: David Laidlaw

PDF Version: Silencing the Qat’muk Grizzly Bear Spirit

Case Commented On: Ktunaxa Nation v British Columbia (Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations), 2017 SCC 54 (CanLII)

In the course of reading the recent decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in Ktunaxa Nation v British Columbia, I was struck by the number (13) of authorized non-party intervenors. There is a central omission – who speaks for Qat’muk’s Grizzly Bear Spirit?

The Appellant Ktunaxa Nation described the Qat’muk region as a place of spiritual significance for them. As the Supreme Court said, “Notably, it is home to an important population of grizzly bears and to Grizzly Bear Spirit, or K?aw?a Tuk?u?ak?is, ‘a principal spirit within Ktunaxa religious beliefs and cosmology’” at paragraph 5 in the Majority Decision authored by Chief Justice McLachlin and Malcolm Rowe JJ, concurred in by Justices Abella, Karakatsanis, Wagner, Gascon, and Brown (Majority Decision).   Continue reading →