Aboriginal rights need clarity for LNG – Terrace Standard

Jun 3, 2015

Last summer I wrote that the Supreme Court’s Tsilhqot’indecision, which for the first time granted aboriginal title outside an Indian reserve, was going to be a real game changer and would “increase uncertainty in Canada’s natural resource sectors in areas lacking treaties with First Nations.”

Since then we’ve seen First Nations in British Columbia serve eviction notices to corporations and take resource companies to court over title claims.

Most recently, the Lax Kw’alaams band rejected a billion dollar deal from Pacific NorthWest LNG, which is majority-owned by Petronas which itself is owned by the Malaysian government, for a liquefied natural gas (LNG) project proposed on Crown land on Lelu Island near Port Edward.

The rejected deal would have provided money and land and stretch over 40 years.

Read More: http://www.terracestandard.com/opinion/306007081.html