Bill C-24

59 ELIZABETH II

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CHAPTER 6

An Act to amend the First Nations Commercial and Industrial Development Act and another Act in consequence thereof

[Assented to 29th June, 2010]

Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows:

SHORT TITLE

1. This Act may be cited as the First Nations Certainty of Land Title Act.

FIRST NATIONS COMMERCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT ACT

2. Subsection 2(1) of the First Nations Commercial and Industrial Development Act is amended by adding the following in alphabetical order:

“provincial body” means a body established by the laws of a province.

“provincial official” means a minister of the Crown in right of a province, a person employed by a province or a person appointed to, or employed by, a provincial body.

3. Subsection 3(2) of the Act is amended by striking out “and” at the end of paragraph (p) and by adding the following after paragraph (q):

(r) provide for the arbitration of disputes arising under the regulations; and

(s) provide for the disposition or destruction of documents, regardless of medium, that are created or submitted under the regulations.

4. The Act is amended by adding the following after section 4:

4.1 (1) The Governor in Council may make regulations respecting the establishment and operation of a system for the registration of interests and rights in reserve lands described in the regulations.

(2) Regulations made under subsection (1) may, despite any other Act of Parliament,

(a) establish priorities or, in Quebec, rankings among interests or rights that have been registered;

(b) establish a fund to compensate for losses in relation to interests or rights that have been registered or that should have been registered;

(c) for purposes of registration, deem Her Majesty’s or a first nation’s interest or rights in the reserve lands to constitute fee simple title to or, in Quebec, ownership of the lands;

(d) deem valid any surrender or designation of the reserve lands made or purported to be made under the Indian Act despite an assertion to the contrary by any person;

(e) confirm the legal capacity of a first nation to hold, transfer and register interests and rights in the reserve lands;

(f) authorize Her Majesty, without any new surrender or designation of reserve lands under the Indian Act by a first nation, to grant fee simple title to those lands to Herself or to the first nation or, in Quebec, confer ownership of those lands on Herself or on the first nation, for a purpose authorized under a surrender or designation made under that Act prior to the grant or conferral;

(g) authorize the Minister, for the purposes of registration, to certify that Her Majesty or any other person has an interest or right in the reserve lands;

(h) entitle the holders of registrable interests and rights in the reserve lands to apply for registration;

(i) provide for the registration, at the request of the Minister or a first nation, of registrable interests and rights of any person that existed at the time of the initial registration of the fee simple title or ownership or other interests or rights of Her Majesty or the first nation in the reserve lands;

(j) provide for the substitution by the Minister or a first nation, as the case may be, of registrable interests and rights in the reserve lands for non-registrable ones;

(k) provide for the extinguishment of any interests and rights that are not registered;

(l) provide for the manner of calculating the compensation, if any, to be paid by a first nation for any substitution or extinguishment referred to in paragraphs (j) and (k), and limit the time for claiming such compensation; and

(m) exclude the reserve lands from the application of sections 19, 21 and 55 of the Indian Act.

(3) A grant or conferral under paragraph (2)(f) does not affect Her Majesty’s title to the reserve lands, or a first nation’s interest or rights in the reserve lands, as the case may be.

(4) The regulations may incorporate by reference any laws of the province, as amended from time to time, with any adaptations that the Governor in Council considers necessary.

5. (1) The portion of section 5 of the Act before paragraph (a) is replaced by the following:

5. (1) Regulations may not be made under section 3 or 4.1 in respect of reserve lands of a first nation unless

(2) Section 5 of the Act is amended by adding the following after subsection (1):

(2) An agreement referred to in paragraph (1)(b) may provide for the arbitration, in accordance with the laws of the province, of disputes arising from the interpretation or application of that agreement, in which case the Commercial Arbitration Act does not apply to the dispute.

(3) Subsection (1) does not apply to the amendment or repeal of regulations made under section 3 or 4.1.

6. Sections 7 to 9 of the Act are replaced by the following:

7. Regulations made under section 3 or 4.1 prevail over any laws or by-laws made by a first nation to the extent of any conflict or inconsistency between them, unless those regulations provide otherwise.

OTHER ACTS

8. The Statutory Instruments Act does not apply to any instruments made by a provincial official or body under authority of a provincial law incorporated by reference in regulations made under section 3 or 4.1.

9. (1) A provincial official or body that exercises a power or performs a duty under regulations made under section 3 or 4.1 is not a federal board, commission or other tribunal for the purposes of the Federal Courts Act.

(2) Unless otherwise provided by regulations made under section 3 or 4.1, where a power or duty is conferred or imposed by a provincial law that is incorporated by reference in the regulations, its exercise or performance pursuant to the regulations is subject to review by, or appeal to, the courts of the province in the same manner and to the same extent as if the provincial law applied of its own force.

7. The portion of section 11 of the Act before paragraph (a) is replaced by the following:

11. In respect of any act or omission occurring in the exercise of a power or the performance of a duty under regulations made under section 3 or 4.1,

8. The Act is amended by adding the following after section 12:

12.1 No civil proceeding may be brought against Her Majesty in right of Canada or a province, a federal or provincial official or body or a person acting on behalf of any of them, in relation to the registration of the title or ownership of Her Majesty or a first nation, or of any registrable interest or right referred to in paragraph 4.1(2)(i), or in relation to the substitution or extinguishment of any interest or right in reserve lands pursuant to regulations made under section 4.1.

CONSEQUENTIAL AMENDMENT TO THE CANADA LANDS SURVEYS ACT

9. Subparagraph 24(1)(a)(i) of the Canada Lands Surveys Act is replaced by the following:

(i) surrendered lands or a reserve, as those expressions are defined in the Indian Act, other than reserve lands described in regulations made under section 4.1 of the First Nations Commercial and Industrial Development Act,

COMING INTO FORCE

10. The provisions of this Act come into force on a day or days to be fixed by order of the Governor in Council.