Bill C-54

RECOMMENDATION

Her Excellency the Governor General recommends to the House of Commons the appropriation of public revenue under the circumstances, in the manner and for the purposes set out in a measure entitled “An Act to provide first nations with the option of managing and regulating oil and gas exploration and exploitation and of receiving moneys otherwise held for them by Canada”.

SUMMARY

The purpose of this enactment is to enable any first nation subject to the Indian Act, if it chooses to do so, to assume the direct management and regulation of oil and gas exploration and exploitation currently carried out on its behalf by Indian Oil and Gas Canada. It would also allow any first nation to receive and manage moneys that are derived from any source on reserve lands and that would otherwise be retained or collected, and managed on its behalf, by the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development. The decision to do so, in either case, would be made in a referendum conducted among eligible members of the first nation.