First Nations better off to negotiate than litigate on resource projects … – Financial Post
June 23, 2015
First Nations better off to negotiate than litigate on resource projects, says report
A string of legal victories has emboldened Canada’s First Nations to command unprecedented say over resource projects, the latest example being last month’s Lax Kw’alaams refusal of a $1.14-billion benefits package rather than giving consent to the Pacific NorthWest LNG project in northern British Columbia.
But constitutional scholar Dwight Newman argues the legal winning streak may be coming to an end.
Indeed, in a new research report for the Macdonald-Laurier Institute — entitled Is the Sky the Limit? — Newman argues last year’s Tsilhqot’in Supreme Court of Canada decision that granted title to the B.C. community based on evidence of its use of land may mark the legal peak for aboriginal claims.
