Marginal note:Environmental protection

38. Subject to the regulations, oil and gas laws must provide protection for the environment that is at least equal to that provided by the laws of the province applicable to oil and gas exploration and exploitation.

Marginal note:Oil and gas conservation

39. Subject to the regulations, oil and gas laws with respect to the conservation of oil and gas must not conflict with or be inconsistent with the laws of the province applicable to oil and gas exploration and exploitation.

Marginal note:Limitation on penalties

40. The punishment that may be imposed by an oil and gas law for an offence is

• (a) if the act or omission constituting the offence results in damage to lands in the managed area,

  • (i) in the case of a first offence, a fine not exceeding $300,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or both, and

  • (ii) in the case of a second or subsequent offence, a fine not exceeding $600,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or both; and

• (b) in any other case, a fine not exceeding $100,000 or a term of imprisonment not exceeding three months, or both.

Marginal note:Powers re inspections, searches, etc.

41. Oil and gas laws made under paragraph 35(1)(f) may not establish procedures inconsistent with those provided by the laws of the province in which the managed area is situated, nor may they confer powers greater than those of a public officer within the meaning of the Criminal Code.

Marginal note:Incorporation by reference

42. Oil and gas laws may incorporate by reference laws of the province in which the managed area is located as they are amended from time to time.

Marginal note:Agreement with province

43. An oil and gas law may, in accordance with an agreement between a first nation and the government of the province in which its managed area is located,

• (a) specify the respective responsibilities of the first nation and the province for the administration and enforcement of oil and gas laws; and

• (b) provide for access by officers of the first nation and the province, respectively, to the managed area for the enforcement of oil and gas laws.

Marginal note:Public access to oil and gas laws

• 44. (1) A first nation shall maintain at its principal administrative office the originals of its oil and gas code and its oil and gas laws, and all persons shall be given reasonable access to them during normal business hours.

• Marginal note:Certified copies

  (2) At the request of any person and on payment of a fee not exceeding the cost of the service, a first nation shall provide a copy of its oil and gas code or an oil and gas law certified to be a true copy by a person so authorized by the first nation.

• Marginal note:Proof of laws

  (3) In the absence of evidence to the contrary, a certified copy of an oil and gas code or an oil and gas law is proof of the original without proof of the signature or official character of the person appearing to have certified the copy.

• Marginal note:Statutory Instruments Act

  (4) The Statutory Instruments Act does not apply in respect of an oil and gas code or the oil and gas laws of a first nation.

Marginal note:International obligations

45. In exercising powers or making laws under this Act, a first nation shall comply with Canada’s international legal obligations and, if the exercise of any power or the making of any law is found to be inconsistent with Canada’s international legal obligations by a body established under an international treaty or by a court or tribunal of competent jurisdiction, the first nation shall remedy the inconsistency.

GENERAL

Marginal note:Legal capacity of first nations

46. A first nation named in Schedule 1 or 2 has the legal capacity necessary to exercise its powers and perform its duties and functions under this Act and, in particular, may acquire and hold property, real or personal and moveable or immoveable, enter into agreements and be a party to legal proceedings.

Marginal note:Public access to financial codes

• 47. (1) A first nation shall maintain at its principal administrative office the originals of a financial code referred to in subsection 10(2) or section 11, and any member of the first nation shall be given reasonable access to them during normal business hours.

• Marginal note:Certified copies

  (2) At the request of any member of the first nation and on payment of a fee not exceeding the cost of the service, a first nation shall provide a copy of a financial code referred to in subsection 10(2) or section 11 certified to be a true copy by a person so authorized by the first nation.

• Marginal note:Proof of codes

  (3) In the absence of evidence to the contrary, a certified copy of a financial code referred to in subsection 10(2) or section 11 is proof in any proceeding of the original without proof of the signature or official character of the person appearing to have certified the copy.

• Marginal note:Statutory Instruments Act

  (4) The Statutory Instruments Act does not apply in respect of a code referred to in subsection 10(2) or section 11.

Marginal note:Accounts — oil and gas

48. Books and accounts shall be maintained for a first nation’s oil and gas moneys, and annual financial statements shall be prepared in respect of those moneys, in accordance with the generally accepted accounting principles of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants, by

• (a) the council of the first nation if no trust is established to hold its oil and gas moneys; or

• (b) the trustees of the trust and the council of the first nation if a trust is established.

Marginal note:Accounts — moneys

49. Books and accounts shall be maintained for moneys that have been paid to a first nation under sections 30 and 31, and annual financial statements shall be prepared in respect of those moneys, in accordance with the generally accepted accounting principles of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants, by

• (a) the council of the first nation if an account is established to hold moneys so paid; or

• (b) the trustees of the trust and the council of the first nation if a trust is established to hold those moneys.

Marginal note:Audit of statements

• 50. (1) Financial statements prepared under section 48 or 49 shall be audited, in accordance with the generally accepted auditing standards of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants, by an auditor who is a member in good standing of an institute or association of accountants incorporated under the laws of a province.

• Marginal note:Access to statements

  (2) Financial statements, as audited under subsection (1), shall be made available to first nation members within 120 days after the end of the fiscal year, and a copy shall be provided to any member on payment of a fee not exceeding the cost of providing the copy.

Marginal note:Expropriation by Canada

• 51. (1) Rights or interests under a contract, or other rights and interests in relation to oil or gas in a managed area, may be expropriated by Her Majesty in right of Canada for the use of a federal department or agency in accordance with the Expropriation Act and with the consent of the Governor in Council.

• Marginal note:Compensation in land

  (2) Compensation awarded to a first nation for the expropriation of a right or an interest under subsection (1) may be in the form of land of equal or greater value.

• Marginal note:Compensation for reduced revenues

  (3) For greater certainty, when a right or an interest is expropriated under subsection (1), any reduction in fees, rates, rents or royalties, including royalties in kind, or any other revenues, that would have been payable to the first nation in respect of the right or interest shall be taken into account in determining the compensation payable to the first nation under the Expropriation Act.

Marginal note:Prosecutions

• 52. (1) Offences for the contravention of a first nation’s oil and gas laws may be prosecuted by the first nation.

• Marginal note:Prosecutors

  (2) A first nation may, in the prosecution of offences for the contravention of its oil and gas laws,

  • (a) retain its own prosecutors;

  • (b) enter into an agreement with a provincial government for the use of provincial prosecutors; or

  • (c) enter into an agreement with the federal government for the use of agents engaged by that government.

• Marginal note:Attorneys General

  (3) This section does not preclude the prosecution of offences by the Attorney General of Canada or by the attorney general of a province.

Marginal note:Disposition of fines and property

53. A fine imposed on a person convicted of an offence under a first nation’s oil and gas laws shall be paid to the first nation, and any property forfeited by virtue of such a conviction shall be transferred to the first nation.

APPLICATION OF OTHER LAWS

Oil and Gas

Marginal note:Indian Act

• 54. (1) As of a first nation’s transfer date, the following do not apply in relation to the issuing of contracts in respect of the first nation’s managed area:

  • (a) sections 23, 28, 29, 34, 35, 37 to 41, 53, 54, 58 to 60 and 93 of the Indian Act;

  • (b) any regulations made under section 57 of that Act; and

  • (c) any regulations made under sections 42 and 73 of that Act, to the extent that those regulations are inconsistent with or conflict with the first nation’s oil and gas code or its oil and gas laws.

• Marginal note:Indian Act

  (2) Sections 61 to 69 of the Indian Act do not apply in respect of oil and gas moneys of a first nation as of the first nation’s transfer date.

• Marginal note:Indian Act

  (3) Subsection 89(1.1) of the Indian Act continues to apply in respect of leasehold interests in any first nation land that was designated land on the first nation’s transfer date.

• Marginal note:Application

  (4) A first nation’s oil and gas laws may extend the application of subsection 89(1.1) of the Indian Act, or any portion of it, to leasehold interests under contracts.