ABLawg

By: Nigel Bankes

PDF Version: Grassy Narrows, Division of Powers and International Law

Case commented on: Grassy Narrows First Nation v Ontario (Natural Resources), 2014 SCC 48

This post discusses two issues arising from the Supreme Court’s decision in Grassy Narrows. The post first considers the implications of the Court’s conclusion that the doctrine of interjurisdictional immunity does not apply in a case where a province infringes the treaty right to hunt leaving the treaty party with no meaningful right to hunt. Second the post argues that the Court’s conclusion that a provincial government may be able to justify an infringement of hunting rights of this nature is inconsistent with Canada’s obligations under international law.

Canada and Nova Scotia Finalize Equivalency Agreement on the Control of Greenhouse Gas Emissions in the Electricity Sector

By Nigel Bankes

On August 5, 2014

In Climate Change, Energy, Environmental

By: Nigel Bankes

PDF Version: Canada and Nova Scotia Finalize Equivalency Agreement on the Control of Greenhouse Gas Emissions in the Electricity Sector

Documents Commented On: Agreement on the Equivalency of Federal and Nova Scotia Regulations for the Control of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Electricity Producers in Nova Scotia;Proposed Order in Council Declaring that the Reduction of Carbon Dioxide Emissions from Coal-fired Generation of Electricity Regulations do not apply in Nova Scotia, Canada Gazette vol 148 (2014), June 28, 2014 and the accompanying Regulatory Impact Analysis Statement

This Agreement is the first greenhouse gas (GHG) equivalency agreement to be finalized between Canada and a province. The Agreement and the accompanying draft Order in Council will serve to suspend the application of Canada’s Reduction of Carbon Dioxide Emissions from Coal-Fired Generation of Electricity Regulations, SOR/2012-167 (the federal Coal Regulations or the CFGRs) made under s.93 of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999, SC 1999, c 33 (CEPA, 1999) in the province of Nova Scotia. For comment on the CFGRs see the post by Astrid Kalkbrenner here. The Agreement will be of considerable interest to other jurisdictions (including Alberta) which are negotiating equivalency agreements with Canada to avoid the application of federal GHG regulations. While a draft of the Agreement has been available for a couple of years (see here, and for a very short summary of the two supportive comments received see here), and there are very few changes between the draft and the final version, what is new is the release of the Regulatory Impact Analysis Statement (RIAS) which casts some light on the methodology that the federal government will apply in assessing equivalency.

Competition for Underground Disposal Space

By Nigel Bankes

On August 1, 2014

In Oil & Gas

By: Nigel Bankes

PDF Version: Competition for Underground Disposal Space

Decision Commented On: Alberta Energy Regulator, Canadian Natural Resources Limited, Application for Disposal, Lloydminster Field, 2014 ABAER 008

Previous posts on ABlawg have commented on sub-surface resource conflicts especially as between gas storage operations and oil and gas production: see Kallisto # 1 here and Kallisto # 2 here. This decision involving Canadian Natural Resources Limited (CNRL) illustrates that there may also be competition for good disposal sites and that the disposal operations of one party may affect the disposal operations of another party. While this decision involves the use of pore space for water disposal operations we can also anticipate competition for the use of pore space for carbon dioxide disposal purposes (i.e. carbon capture and storage, CCS) if that technology rolls out as anticipated to mitigate Alberta’s greenhouse gas emissions.

What Does Radical Title Add to the Concept of Sovereignty?

By Nigel Bankes

On July 31, 2014

In Aboriginal, Constitutional, Property

By: Nigel Bankes and Jonnette Watson Hamilton

PDF Version: What Does Radical Title Add to the Concept of Sovereignty?

Case commented on: Tsilhqot’in Nation v British Columbia, 2014 SCC 44

The Crown’s radical title plays a larger role in the Supreme Court of Canada decision in Tsilhqot’in than it has in the Court’s previous Aboriginal rights decisions. However, it is unclear what the Court means by radical title in Tsilhqot’in or what work the concept is performing. One way to try to figure this out is to reflect on our understanding of the relationship between Aboriginal title and the Crown’s radical title before the Tsilhqot’in decision, describe Tsilhqot’in’s discussion of radical title, and then consider whether it adds anything to the concept of sovereignty.

The Importance of Location and Context to the Future Application of the Grassy Narrows Decision of the Supreme Court of Canada

By Kirk Lambrecht, Q.C.

On July 30, 2014

In Aboriginal, Constitutional

By: Kirk Lambrecht Q.C.

PDF Version: The Importance of Location and Context to the Future Application of the Grassy Narrows Decision of the Supreme Court of Canada

Case commented on: Grassy Narrows First Nation v Ontario (Natural Resources), 2014 SCC 48

This post discusses the future application of the decision of the Supreme Court in Grassy Narrows First Nation v Ontario (Natural Resources), 2014 SCC 48, to the Prairie Provinces of Canada. The proposition advanced here is that Treaty rights in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta are constitutionally protected under the Natural Resource Transfer Agreements of 1930, all of which are schedules to the Constitution Act, 1930, as well as being constitutionally protected by s. 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982 and the doctrine of the Honour of the Crown. The scope and extent of Treaty harvesting rights in the Prairie Provinces, and how the constitutional protection afforded by the Natural Resource Transfer Agreements within the Constitution Act, 1930, may affect the exercise of provincial proprietary and legislative powers, is anticipated by, but not specifically addressed in, the Grassy Narrows decision. This will require future judicial analysis when Grassy Narrows is applied in the region west of the Ontario/Manitoba border.