Beaver Lake Cree Nation Stands Firm in Defence of Inherent and Treaty Rights

The Beaver Lake Cree Nation was in court on June 4 due to an appeal by the federal and Alberta governments against a 2019 ruling of the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench that the provincial and federal governments must pay advance legal costs to the Nation. This ruling allows the continuation of the precedent-setting legal action initiated in 2008 by Beaver Lake in defence of their inherent and treaty rights. The action claims that the cumulative effects of industrial development on the Nation's traditional land and way of life must be considered in project approvals. The case is precedent-setting because it is the first to challenge the cumulative economic, environmental, social, and cultural impacts of industrial development, not just a single project.[1]

Crystal Lameman, the Beaver Lake Cree's Government Relations Advisor, explains, "This is about Beaver Lake having a say in what development looks like in their territory, and on their lands, to which neither Alberta nor Canada has a bill of sale -- not under Treaty-making, and not via any subsequent unilateral decision-making authority."[2]

The Beaver Lake territory spans 38,972 square kilometres and is in the heart of the oil sands. Governments have leased out much of this land to oil companies without any prior consultation or approval. In total there are 300 projects with 19,000 individual authorizations, around 35,000 individual oil and natural gas wells, the Canadian Forces Cold Lake Weapons Range, and thousands of kilometres of pipelines, access roads and seismic lines on the territory. Nearly 90 per cent of the traditional territory is scarred and polluted by numerous tar sands projects, displacing moose and elk and driving caribou to the brink of extinction.

As affirmed in the Kétuskéno Declaration (2008), the Beaver Lake Cree agreed through a treaty of peace and friendship to share the land with those who respect their obligations as keepers of the land and their traditional, constitutional and treaty rights. The declaration affirmed their rights and duties as keepers of the land, and their right to gain their livelihood from these lands. In the court action launched in 2008 they assert that governments must respect the right of the keepers of the land to say yes or no to developments on their territory.

In 2018, after years of defending their action in court against both the federal and Alberta governments using their own funds as well as extensive fund-raising, Beaver Lake filed an interim costs application asking the Court to order that Canada and Alberta contribute to the cost of proceeding with the case. Alberta and Canada argued that the Nation should have to exhaust all of its assets before being granted advanced costs. On September 30, 2019, Justice Beverly Browne ruled that Alberta and Canada must each contribute $300,000 a year to the Nation's legal costs, while the Nation would have to contribute a similar amount. Granting of advanced legal costs is considered an extraordinary measure, she acknowledged. "The case before me is sufficiently extraordinary that I should exercise my discretion to grant the application. In my view, it would be manifestly unjust to either compel Beaver Lake to abandon its claim or to force it into destitution in order to bring the claim  forward. ... Regardless, I am unwilling to force Beaver Lake leadership to choose between pursuing this litigation and attempting to provide for the basic necessities of life that most citizens take for granted."

Notes

1. Blueberry River First Nation in BC is also proceeding with a legal action, which was filed in 2015. See Defence of Treaty Rights: Blueberry River First Nations Bring Historic Cumulative-Impacts Lawsuit Back to BC Supreme Court, TML Weekly, June 8, 2019.

2.  Beaver Lake Cree stand strong as Canada and Alberta attempt to derail tarsands legal challenge, by Maia Wikler and Crystal Lameman, Briarpatch Magazine, June 5, 2020.

This article was published in

Volume 50 Number 21 - June 13, 2020

Article Link:
Beaver Lake Cree Nation Stands Firm in Defence of Inherent and Treaty Rights

    

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