Abstract
Recent case law incentivizes corporations in the Canadian uranium industry to take a proactive role in indigenous consultations. The Canadian Government has a duty to consult indigenous peoples who will be impacted by uranium projects, and certain aspects of that duty, including engaging with the impacted peoples, can be performed by the corporate project proponents. Case law indicates that the Canadian Government is not civilly liable to corporations when inadequate consultation results in costly project delays or other financial losses. Therefore, corporations should adopt an internal policy of best practices to optimize their role in the process. The recommended best practices both increase respect for indigenous rights and decrease the risk of financial loss due to inadequate consultation.
University of Oklahoma College of Law. Alumni Advisory and Pro Bono Council for the College of Law’s Center for International Business & Human Rights, at http://www.law.ou.edu/IBHRCenter. This chapter represents the author’s personal views.
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Notes
- 1.
World Nuclear Association 2017.
- 2.
Id.
- 3.
Mining Feeds 2018, listing 25 Canadian uranium mining companies and their respective stock values.
- 4.
E.g., Ecosocialism Canada 2010.
- 5.
CBC News 2014.
- 6.
Nikiforuk 1998.
- 7.
See e.g., CBC News 2008.
- 8.
- 9.
AREVA Resources Canada, Inc. 2015.
- 10.
Coates 2016.
- 11.
Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (2011): ‘The CNSC ensures that all its licensing decisions under the Nuclear Safety and Control Act and environmental assessment decisions under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act uphold the honour of the Crown and consider aboriginal peoples’ potential or established aboriginal or treaty rights pursuant to Section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982 (together, the ‘aboriginal interests’).’
- 12.
Government of Canada (2011), at 19: ‘Third parties, such as proponents, do not have a legal obligation to consult Aboriginal groups. The Crown may delegate to the proponent such aspects of consultation as the gathering of information about the impact of the proposed project on the potential or established Aboriginal or Treaty rights.’ [hereinafter ‘Consultation Guidelines’].
- 13.
Moulton Contracting Ltd. V. British Columbia, 2015 BCCA 89 (CanLII) (Court overturns trial judge decision to award damages to logging company that lost business opportunity when failed consultation process resulted in logging blockade).
- 14.
E.g., Cameco 2014.
- 15.
Consultation Guidelines, supra note 12.
- 16.
Constitution Act, 1982, being Schedule B to the Canada Act 1982 (U.K.), 1982, § 35.1 (‘The existing aboriginal and treaty rights of the aboriginal peoples of Canada are hereby recognized and affirmed.’).
- 17.
R v. Sparrow, [1990] 1 S.C.R. 1075 at para 3.
- 18.
Id., at para 13.
- 19.
Id., at para 66.
- 20.
Id., at para 70.
- 21.
Id., at para 74.
- 22.
Id., at para 81.
- 23.
Haida Nation v. British Columbia, 2004 SCC 73 at paras 1–5.
- 24.
Id., at para 27.
- 25.
Id., at para 35.
- 26.
Id., at para 39.
- 27.
Id., at para 53.
- 28.
Id.
- 29.
Id., at para 48.
- 30.
Id., at para 10.
- 31.
Taku River Tlingit First Nation v. British Columbia, 2004 SCC 74 at para 1.
- 32.
Id., at para 18.
- 33.
Id., at para 19.
- 34.
Id., at para.
- 35.
Mikisew Cree First Nation v. Canada, 2005 SCC 69 at para 2.
- 36.
Id., at para 22.
- 37.
Id., at paras 32, 59.
- 38.
Id., at para 64.
- 39.
Id.
- 40.
Id.
- 41.
Consultation Guidelines, supra note 12.
- 42.
See Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada 2010.
- 43.
Consultation Guidelines, supra note 12, at 43 (Figure 3 therein).
- 44.
Id., at 14.
- 45.
CanAlaska Uranium Ltd. (Nov. 2010) Technical Report on the Geology of, and Results
from, the Northwest Manitoba Project #NWM 2010-01, at 20, http://www.canalaska.com/i/pdf/techrpts/43101-NWmanitoba.pdf. Accessed 31 March 2018.
- 46.
CanAlaska Uranium Ltd. (2012).
- 47.
CBC News 2013.
- 48.
Northern Superior Resources Inc. v. Ontario, 2016 ONSC 3161 at para. 96, Ontario Superior Court of Justice (Lederer J.), 25 May 2016.
- 49.
 Behn v. Moulton Contracting Ltd., 2013 SCC 26.
- 50.
Id., at para 1.
- 51.
Id.
- 52.
Id., at para 31.
- 53.
Moulton Contracting Ltd. v. British Columbia, 2015 BCCA 89 (CanLII).
- 54.
Id., at para 2.
- 55.
Id., at paras 1–2.
- 56.
Id., at paras 78–79.
- 57.
Id., at para 106.
- 58.
Ritter 2000, at 11.
- 59.
Id., at 37.
- 60.
Discussed infra, Sect. 10.4.2, as ‘Traditional Ecological Knowledge’ or ‘TEK’.
- 61.
Consultation Guidelines, supra note 12, at 19.
- 62.
Consultation Guidelines, supra note 12, at 38 (‘The Consultation Information Service will provide contact information for Aboriginal groups and their leadership, information on multipartite agreements, historic and modern Treaties and their provisions, comprehensive and specific claims, litigation and other assertions. Queries regarding specific projects can be sent to: CAU-UCA@aandc-aadnc.gc.ca.’).
- 63.
Also known as Aboriginal Traditional Knowledge, or ‘ATK’.
- 64.
Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency 2016, considering aboriginal traditional knowledge in environmental assessments conducted under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act—Interim Principles, https://ceaa-acee.gc.ca/default.asp?lang=En&n=4A795E76-1.
- 65.
Id.
- 66.
See Consultation Guidelines, supra note 12, at 55.
- 67.
The variety of available mitigation methods and their technical details are beyond the scope of this chapter, but discussion on the subject can be found in the following article:
Committee on Uranium Mining in Virginia; Committee on Earth Resources; National Research Council (2011) Potential Environmental Effects of Uranium Mining, Processing, and Reclamation. In Uranium Mining in Virginia: Scientific, Technical, Environmental, Human Health and Safety, and Regulatory Aspects of Uranium Mining and Processing in Virginia, National Academies Press (US), Washington, DC, 178-222, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK201052/.
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Pilehvar, T.M. (2019). If the Government Errs, Corporate Losses are Their Own to Bear: Corporate Best Practices for Indigenous Engagement in the Uranium Industry. In: Black-Branch, J., Fleck, D. (eds) Nuclear Non-Proliferation in International Law - Volume IV. T.M.C. Asser Press, The Hague. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6265-267-5_10
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