Federal government blasted over native land claim inaction – Calgary Herald

April 20, 2015

The federal government’s lack of action to resolve aboriginal land claims creates investment risk and puts industry at a disadvantage when it attempts to develop natural resources on those lands, a panel of experts agreed Monday at a Calgary oil conference.

Keith Burgner, a partner with Vancouver law firm Lawson Lundell LLP who has negotiated impact-benefit agreements between industry and First Nations, said the deals are “interim solutions” — and they work — but they are limited in scope and don’t solve long-term land claim reconciliation issues.

“The vast, vast majority of (impact-benefit agreements) are solely between industry and the aboriginal groups. The government is not at the table,” Burgner said at the Canadian Energy Research Institute conference.

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