Yukon Surface Rights Board Act (S.C. 1994, c. 43)

Short Title

Marginal note:Short title

1 This Act may be cited as the Yukon Surface Rights Board Act.

Interpretation

General

Marginal note:Definitions

2 In this Act,

Board

Board means the Yukon Surface Rights Board established by section 8; (Office)

category A settlement land

category A settlement land means, in relation to a final agreement, land that has been

• (a) identified or declared pursuant to the final agreement, or designated pursuant to section 63, as category A settlement land, or

• (b) identified in a self-government agreement as land to which the final agreement is to apply as if it were category A settlement land,

and that has not ceased to be settlement land in accordance with the final agreement; (terre désignée de catégorie A)

category B settlement land

category B settlement land means, in relation to a final agreement, land that has been

• (a) identified or declared pursuant to the final agreement, or designated pursuant to section 63, as category B settlement land, or

• (b) identified in a self-government agreement as land to which the final agreement is to apply as if it were category B settlement land,

and that has not ceased to be settlement land in accordance with the final agreement; (terre désignée de catégorie B)

cost of construction

cost of construction, in respect of a hydro-electric or water storage facility, means the aggregate of the following costs:

• (a) the costs of constructing civil structures,

• (b) the costs of reservoir and site clearing,

• (c) the costs of constructing access routes,

• (d) electrical and mechanical costs,

• (e) design costs, including the cost of socio-economic and environmental studies required for any application to construct or operate the facility,

• (f) engineering and construction management costs, and

• (g) in the case of a hydro-electric facility, the costs of constructing transmission lines to a grid; (coûts de construction)

Council for Yukon Indians

Council for Yukon Indians includes any successor to the Council for Yukon Indians and, in the absence of any successor, the first nations referred to in the definition Yukon first nation, whether or not their land claims agreement has been added to Part I of Schedule I; (Conseil des Indiens du Yukon)

Crown land

Crown land means land vested in Her Majesty in right of Canada, whether the administration and control thereof is appropriated to the Commissioner of the Yukon Territory or not, but does not include settlement land; (terre domaniale)

existing mineral right

existing mineral right means a mineral right, other than a right to locate a claim or an unrecorded right to explore for minerals, other than oil and gas, existing at the date the affected land became settlement land, and includes

• (a) a renewal or replacement of such a mineral right after that date,

• (b) a licence, permit or other right in respect of oil or gas granted after that date as of right to a person holding such a mineral right, and

• (c) a licence, permit or other right in respect of mines or minerals granted after that date pursuant to the Yukon Quartz Mining Act or the Yukon Placer Mining Act to a person holding such a mineral right; (droit minier existant)

fee simple settlement land

fee simple settlement land means, in relation to a final agreement, land that has been

• (a) identified or declared pursuant to the final agreement, or designated pursuant to section 63, as fee simple settlement land, or

• (b) identified in a self-government agreement as land to which the final agreement is to apply as if it were fee simple settlement land,

and that has not ceased to be settlement land in accordance with the final agreement; (terre désignée en fief simple)

final agreement

final agreement means an agreement referred to in Part I of Schedule I, and includes any amendments made to it from time to time in accordance with its provisions; (accord définitif)

fish

fish includes

• (a) parts of fish,

• (b) shellfish, crustaceans, marine animals, marine plants and parts of them, and

• (c) the eggs, spawn, larvae, spat and juvenile stages of fish, shellfish, crustaceans and marine animals; (poisson ou ressources halieutiques)

gas

gas means natural gas and includes all substances, other than oil, that are produced in association with natural gas; (gaz)

Government

Government means the Government of Canada or the Government of the Yukon Territory, or both, depending on which has responsibility for the matter in question; (gouvernement)

harvesting

harvesting means gathering, hunting, trapping or fishing in accordance with a final agreement or the Transboundary Agreement; (exploitation)

mineral right

mineral right means a licence, permit or other right to explore for, locate, develop, produce or transport minerals, other than specified substances, and to enter on land for those purposes; (droit minier)

minerals

minerals means precious and base metals and other non-living, naturally occurring substances, whether solid, liquid or gaseous, and includes coal, oil, gas and specified substances; (minéraux)

mines

mines means mines, opened and unopened; (mines)

Minister

Minister means the Minister of Northern Affairs; (ministre fédéral)

navigable water

navigable water means a stream, river, lake, sea or other body of water, used or capable of being used by the public for navigation by boats, kayaks, canoes, rafts or other small craft, or log booms on a continuous or seasonal basis, and includes any parts of those bodies of water interrupted by occasional natural obstructions or bypassed by portages; (navigable)

new mineral right

new mineral right means any mineral right, other than an existing mineral right; (droit minier nouveau)

non-settlement land

non-settlement land means all land and water in the Yukon Territory, other than settlement land, and includes mines and minerals, other than specified substances, in category B settlement land and in fee simple settlement land; (terre non désignée)

oil

oil means crude oil, regardless of gravity, produced at a well head in liquid form, and any other hydrocarbons, other than coal and gas, and includes hydrocarbons that may be extracted or recovered from deposits of oil sand, bituminous sand, oil shale or from any other type of deposits on the surface or subsurface; (pétrole)

person

person means a natural person or an artificial entity capable of having rights or obligations and includes a Government or the government of a province or of a foreign state or any subdivision thereof; (personne)

self-government agreement

self-government agreement means an agreement referred to in Part II of Schedule I; (accord sur l’autonomie gouvernementale)

settlement land

settlement land means category A settlement land, category B settlement land or fee simple settlement land; (terre désignée)

specified substances

specified substances means carving stone, flint, limestone, marble, gypsum, shale, slate, clay, sand, gravel, construction stone, sodium chloride, volcanic ash, earth, soil, diatomaceous earth, ochre, marl and peat; (matières spécifiées)

Territorial Minister

Territorial Minister means, in respect of any provision of this Act, such minister of the Yukon Territory as is designated by the Commissioner of the Yukon Territory for the purposes of that provision; (ministre territorial)

traditional territory

traditional territory means, with respect to a Yukon first nation, the geographic area within the Yukon Territory identified as that Yukon first nation’s traditional territory on the map for that purpose set out in Appendix B to the final agreement of that Yukon first nation; (territoire traditionnel)

Transboundary Agreement

Transboundary Agreement means the Yukon Transboundary Agreement, set out in Appendix C to the Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement between Her Majesty the Queen in right of Canada and the Gwich’in, as represented by the Gwich’in Tribal Council, that was approved, given effect and declared valid by the Gwich’in Land Claim Settlement Act, and includes any amendments made to it from time to time in accordance with its provisions; (accord transfrontalier)

undeveloped settlement land

undeveloped settlement land means all settlement land that has not been designated as developed settlement land in or pursuant to a final agreement or pursuant to section 63 or a self-government agreement; (terre désignée non aménagée)

waterfront right-of-way

waterfront right-of-way means, except as otherwise provided in Appendix A to a final agreement, the thirty metre wide area measured landward from the limit or edge of the bed of any navigable water on or abutting settlement land; (emprise riveraine)

wildlife

wildlife means a vertebrate animal of any species or subspecies that is wild in the Yukon, but does not include

• (a) fish, or

• (b) a vertebrate animal of any species or subspecies that is not indigenous to the Yukon Territory or that is intentionally introduced by a Government or other body, other than a Yukon first nation, as part of a wildlife management program; (faune ou ressources fauniques)

Yukon first nation

Yukon first nation means any of the first nations known as the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations, the First Nation of Nacho Nyak Dun, the Teslin Tlingit Council, the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation or any of the following first nations whose land claims agreement has been added to Part I of Schedule I pursuant to section 79, namely,

• (a) Carcross/Tagish First Nation,

• (b) Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in,

• (c) Kluane First Nation,

• (d) Kwanlin Dun First Nation,

• (e) Liard First Nation,

• (f) Little Salmon/Carmacks First Nation,

• (g) Ross River Dena Council,

• (h) Selkirk First Nation,

• (i) Ta’an Kwach’an Council, and

• (j) White River First Nation; (première nation)

Yukon Indian person

Yukon Indian person means a person enrolled as such under a final agreement. (Indien du Yukon)

Tetlit Gwich’in Yukon Land

Marginal note:Application to Tetlit Gwich’in Yukon land

• 3 (1) Subject to this section, this Act applies within the primary use area described in Annex A of the Transboundary Agreement as if

  • (a) the references to settlement land, category B settlement land, fee simple settlement land and undeveloped settlement land were references to Tetlit Gwich’in Yukon land described in Annex B of the Transboundary Agreement;

  • (b) the references to traditional territory were references to the primary use area;

  • (c) the references to a Yukon first nation, other than the reference in the definition Council for Yukon Indians in section 2 and in paragraph (4)(b), were references to the Gwich’in Tribal Council; and

  • (d) the references to a Yukon Indian person were references to a Tetlit Gwich’in as defined in the Transboundary Agreement.

• Marginal note:Provisions not applicable

  (2) Subsection 31(1), sections 58 and 63 and paragraphs 1(g) and 2(1)(f) of Schedule II do not apply in respect of Tetlit Gwich’in Yukon land.

• Marginal note:Hearing of applications

  (3) An application in respect of Tetlit Gwich’in Yukon land shall be heard in Fort McPherson, Northwest Territories, unless the parties agree otherwise.

• Marginal note:Compensation for expropriation

  (4) In making an order under section 55 in respect of the expropriation of Tetlit Gwich’in Yukon land for the construction, maintenance and operation of a hydro-electric or water storage facility, the Board shall not

  • (a) take into consideration the cultural or other special value to the Gwich’in Tribal Council of the land or any land to be provided as compensation for the expropriation; or

  • (b) fix compensation for improvements to the Tetlit Gwich’in Yukon land in an amount that, together with all other compensation for improvements provided to Tetlit Gwich’in and Yukon first nations in respect of the facility whether pursuant to such an order or otherwise, would exceed three per cent of the cost of construction of the facility.

• Marginal note:Transfer of land

  (5) Where land within the primary use area described in Annex A of the Transboundary Agreement is to be transferred, pursuant to an order of the Board or as a result of negotiation, to the Gwich’in Tribal Council as compensation for the expropriation of Tetlit Gwich’in Yukon land, the land shall, on transfer, become Tetlit Gwich’in Yukon land.

Inconsistencies

Marginal note:Inconsistency between final agreement and Act

• 4 (1) Where there is any inconsistency or conflict between a final agreement and this Act, the agreement prevails to the extent of the inconsistency or conflict.

• Marginal note:Inconsistency between Transboundary Agreement and Act

  (2) Where there is any inconsistency or conflict between the Transboundary Agreement and this Act, the Agreement prevails to the extent of the inconsistency or conflict.

Marginal note:Inconsistency between order and Act or document

• 5 (1) Where there is any inconsistency or conflict between an order of the Board respecting access and a requirement imposed by or under any Act, or a licence, permit or other document made or issued under such an Act, that regulates the activity for which the access is obtained, the Act or document prevails to the extent of the inconsistency or conflict.

• Marginal note:Decision under Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Act

  (2) The following prevail over an order of the Board respecting access, to the extent of any inconsistency or conflict between them:

  • (a) a decision document issued under section 75, 76 or 77 of the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Act by a federal agency that the federal agency is required to implement under subsection 82(2) of that Act;

  • (b) a decision document that is issued under those sections by the territorial minister, to the extent that a territorial agency or municipal government is required to implement it under subsection 83(2) of that Act; and

  • (c) a decision document that is issued under those sections by a first nation, to the extent that the first nation is required to implement it under subsections 84(2) and (3) of that Act.