Oil Sands Indigenous Rights Ruling Could Rock Canada Regulations

Oil, mining, and forestry regulators across Canada may have to take First Nation rights into deeper consideration after a court undercut an Alberta agency’s long-standing refusal to address historic and ongoing indigenous treaty violations, lawyers watching the case closely said.

The Court of Appeal of Alberta’s declarations that the Alberta Energy Regulator must tackle treaty impacts and address existing environmental effects when approving individual projects could lead to changes in five provinces that use similar approaches, they said.

“It’s pretty significant in terms of its geographic implications,” Nigel Bankes, who holds the chair of natural resource law at the University ...