Financial Provisions

Annual budget

113. (1) The Tribunal shall annually submit a budget for the following fiscal year to the Minister for consideration.

Accounts

(2) The Tribunal shall maintain books of account and records in relation to them in accordance with accounting principles recommended by the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants or its successor.

Consolidated financial statements

(3) The Tribunal shall, within such time after the end of each fiscal year as the Minister specifies, prepare consolidated financial statements in respect of that fiscal year in accordance with the accounting principles referred to in subsection (2), and shall include in the consolidated financial statements any information or statements that are required in support of them.

Audit

(4) The accounts, financial statements and financial transactions of the Tribunal shall be audited annually by the Auditor General of Canada. The Auditor General of Canada shall make a report of the audit to the Tribunal and the Minister.

Annual Report

Annual report

114. The Tribunal shall, within three months after the end of each fiscal year, submit to the Minister a report on its activities in that year, and shall include in the annual report information on the following matters:

    (a) its operations;

    (b) the number of applications made to it;

    (c) the orders made by it; and

    (d) such other matters as the Minister may specify.

Publication

115. The Tribunal shall publish the annual report.

Jurisdiction of Tribunal

Negotiations

116. (1) No person may apply to the Tribunal for an order unless the person has attempted to resolve the matter in dispute by negotiation in accordance with the rules made under section 129 or, until such rules have been made, in a manner satisfactory to the Tribunal.

Resolved matters

(2) The Tribunal may not hear or make an order in respect of any matter that was resolved by negotiation unless the parties consent or it appears, in the opinion of the Tribunal, that there has been a material change in the facts or circumstances that formed the basis of the negotiated resolution.

Matters not raised

117. The Tribunal may not make an order in respect of a matter that is not raised by any of the parties.

Applications and Hearings

Informal and expeditious

118. An application before the Tribunal shall be dealt with as informally and expeditiously as the circumstances and considerations of fairness permit and, in particular, the Tribunal

    (a) is not bound by any strict rules of evidence;

    (b) may take into account any material it considers relevant;

    (c) shall give due weight to Inuit knowledge of wildlife and the environment; and

    (d) shall, in hearing an application under Division 5, take into account the social, cultural and economic importance of wildlife to Inuit.

General powers of Tribunal

119. The Tribunal has, with respect to the attendance and examination of witnesses, the production and inspection of documents and all other matters necessary or proper in relation to applications before the Tribunal, all the powers, rights and privileges of a superior court.

Parties to a hearing

120. The following are parties to a hearing before the Tribunal:

    (a) the applicant and any other person who may apply for an order in respect of which the hearing is held; and

    (b) the owner of land that would be subject to an order in respect of which the hearing is held and any occupant of that land.

Hearing in absence of party

121. The Tribunal may not hear an application in the absence of any party unless

    (a) that party consents to the holding of the hearing in their absence; or

    (b) notice of the hearing was given to that party in accordance with the rules of the Tribunal or, in the absence of rules respecting the giving of such notice, in a manner satisfactory to the Tribunal.

Location of hearing

122. Unless the parties agree otherwise,

    (a) an application under section 154 or an application under paragraph 165(b) in relation to an order made under section 154 shall be heard in a community that is convenient to the claimant; and

    (b) any other application shall be heard in the community that is closest to the land involved.

Hearing of applications

123. (1) An application to the Tribunal shall be heard by a panel consisting of three members or, if the parties consent, by one member. If one of the members of a panel is absent, the hearing may continue with only one of the members if the parties consent, but if the parties do not consent, the application must be reheard by another panel or member.

Disposition of application

(2) A member who is not present during the entire hearing of an application may not participate in the disposition of the application.

Residency requirement

(3) Where an application involves Inuit-owned land, at least two of the members of the panel hearing the application, or in the case of an application heard by one member, that member, must be resident in Nunavut.

Assignment of members

124. (1) Members shall be assigned to panels in accordance with the by-laws of the Tribunal or, in the absence of by-laws respecting the assignment of members, by the Chairperson.

Conflict of interest

(2) A member shall not be assigned to, or continue to, hear an application if doing so would place the member in a material conflict of interest.

Status of Inuk or interest in land

(3) A member is not placed in a material conflict of interest merely because the member has the status under the Agreement of an Inuk or has an interest in land in Nunavut.

Powers, duties and functions

125. (1) A panel, or member hearing an application, has all of the powers, and shall perform all of the duties and functions, of the Tribunal in relation to the application.

Status of order

(2) Any order disposing of an application is an order of the Tribunal.

Information made available

126. Before disposing of an application, the Tribunal shall make any information that it intends to use in the disposition available to the parties and provide them with a reasonable opportunity to respond to the information.

References to Federal Court

127. The Tribunal may, at any stage of its proceedings, refer to the Federal Court any question or issue of law or of jurisdiction, other than a question or issue that has been referred to an arbitration panel established under Article 38 of the Agreement.

Records

Records

128. (1) The Tribunal shall

    (a) keep a public record of all applications made to the Tribunal and orders and other decisions made by the Tribunal in respect of applications;

    (b) issue, on request and on payment of such fee as the Tribunal may fix, certified copies of any order or other decision, rule or by-law made by the Tribunal; and

    (c) have the custody and care of all documents filed with the Tribunal.

Fees

(2) Any fee received by the Tribunal under paragraph (1)(b) may be used by the Tribunal for its operations.

Rules

Procedures, mediation and costs

129. (1) The Tribunal may make rules

    (a) respecting the practice and procedure in relation to applications to and hearings before the Tribunal, including the service of documents and the imposition of reasonable time limits;

    (b) establishing procedures that may be followed in the mediation of matters in dispute; and

    (c) respecting the allowance of costs, including rules

      (i) establishing a schedule of fees and other expenses incurred by a party in relation to applications to or hearings before the Tribunal that may be allowed as part of that party's costs under this Part, and

      (ii) respecting the circumstances under which the Tribunal may allow costs with respect to matters dealt with in the schedule of fees and other expenses on a basis other than that established by the schedule.

Negotiations

(2) The Tribunal shall make rules establishing procedures to be followed in the conduct of negotiations for the purposes of subsection 116(1), either generally or with respect to any class of applications.

Non-
application of Statutory Instruments Act

130. Sections 3, 5 and 11 of the Statutory Instruments Act do not apply in respect of the rules of the Tribunal.

Pre-
publication

131. (1) The Tribunal must give notice at least sixty days before making a rule by

    (a) publishing the proposed rule in a newspaper or other periodical that, in the opinion of the Tribunal, has a large circulation in Nunavut; and

    (b) sending a copy of the proposed rule to the council of each municipality in Nunavut.

Representa-
tions invited

(2) The notice referred to in subsection (1) must include an invitation to interested persons to make representations in writing to the Tribunal about the proposed rule within sixty days after publication of the notice.

Response to representa-
tions

(3) The Tribunal may not make the rule until after it has responded to any representations made within the time limit referred to in subsection (2).

Exception

(4) Once a notice is published under subsection (1), no further notice is required to be published about any amendment to the proposed rule that results from representations made by interested persons.

Publication

(5) As soon as possible after the rule has been made, the Tribunal must

    (a) publish it in a newspaper or other periodical that, in the opinion of the Tribunal, has a large circulation in Nunavut; and

    (b) publish a notice in the Canada Gazette that the rule has been made, indicating the newspaper or periodical in which it has been published.

DIVISION 2

ORDERS FOR INUIT-OWNED LANDS

Exercise of Mineral Rights

Use and occupation

132. On application by any person

    (a) who has a mineral right granted by Her Majesty in right of Canada in relation to Inuit-owned land, and

    (b) who has been unable to obtain the consent of the designated Inuit organization,

the Tribunal shall make an entry order setting out the terms and conditions for the use and occupation of that land to the extent necessary for the purpose of exercising the mineral right.

Prospecting right

133. (1) A person who has a right to prospect for minerals and who applies under section 132 for an entry order to exercise that right on Inuit-owned land shall make a separate application in respect of each parcel of that land.

Confiden-
tiality

(2) In disposing of an application made by a person who has a right to prospect for minerals, the Tribunal shall take into account the need to provide confidentiality for that person.

Definition of ``parcel''

(3) In subsection (1), ``parcel'' means the portion of land represented by a code of letters and numbers in the property description, as defined in section 19.1.1 of the Agreement, used for the purposes of conveying title to Inuit-owned land.

Access to other land

134. (1) Subject to subsection (2), on application by any person

    (a) who requires access to Inuit-owned land in order to exercise a mineral right, granted under an Act of Parliament, in relation to any other land, and

    (b) who has been unable to obtain the consent of the designated Inuit organization,

the Tribunal shall make an entry order setting out the terms and conditions for access to that Inuit-owned land to the extent necessary for the purpose of exercising the mineral right.

Restriction

(2) The Tribunal shall not make an entry order under subsection (1) unless the applicant satisfies the Tribunal that the access is reasonably required.

Other Commercial Purposes

Right to cross

135. (1) Subject to subsection (2), on application by any person

    (a) who requires access across Inuit-owned land for a commercial purpose, and

    (b) who has been unable to obtain the consent of the designated Inuit organization,

the Tribunal shall make an entry order setting out the terms and conditions for the access.

Restriction

(2) The Tribunal shall not make an entry order under subsection (1) unless an arbitration panel established under Article 38 of the Agreement has, in accordance with the Agreement,

    (a) established that the applicant attempted for a period of not less than sixty days to negotiate the access in good faith;

    (b) determined that the access is essential to the commercial purposes of the applicant and that access by any other means is physically or financially impractical; and

    (c) designated a route of access that will minimize any damage to the Inuit-owned land and interference with Inuit use of that land.

Terms and conditions

(3) An entry order made under subsection (1) shall include terms and conditions to minimize any damage to the Inuit-owned land and interference with Inuit use of that land.

Compensa-
tion dispute

(4) Where the designated Inuit organization has consented to permit a person to cross Inuit-owned land for commercial purposes but that organization and that person are unable to agree on appropriate compensation, the Tribunal shall, on application by that organization or person, make an order resolving the matter.

Construction Materials