EDMONTON – Alberta’s minister of indigenous affairs says the government will repeal a bill next week that is widely despised among First Nations and has already led to several lawsuits.
Richard Feehan says Bill 22, which created an agency that decides when aboriginals have been adequately consulted on resource projects, will go.
READ MORE: Alberta band sues province over consultation
That process led to another lawsuit this week, when the Fort McKay First Nation asked a court to overturn one of the consultation office’s rulings.
Band officials say Alberta has created a process that offers aboriginals nowhere to voice their concerns about cumulative effects of development and their impact on treaty rights.
The Fort McKay lawsuit says that process is designed to deliberately sideline consideration of the band’s rights.