Federal Court expands Duty to Consult to include consideration of UNDRIP – MLT Aikins
March 7, 2025
On February 19, 2025, the Federal Court released its decision in Kebaowek First Nation v Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (Kebaowek). Their decision provides a clear example of how the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) is being integrated into Canadian law and decision-making processes.
Although the federal government passed the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (UNDRIP Act) in 2021, there has been little judicial commentary about how exactly UNDRIP interacts with Canadian law until now.
Background
Kebaowek involved an application for judicial review of a Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) decision authorizing the construction of a Near Surface Disposal Facility (NSDF). The disposal facility was designed to store up to one million cubic meters of low-level nuclear waste at Canadian Nuclear Laboratories’ (CNL) existing Chalk River nuclear facility.
