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

Rights of Access Subject to Consent or Order

• 1 The rights subject to the consent of the Yukon first nation concerned are the following:

  • (a) the right of any person to use a waterfront right-of-way on settlement land for commercial recreational purposes;

  • (b) the right of any person, other than a person having a right described in paragraph 2(1)(b), to enter, cross and make necessary stops on undeveloped settlement land in order to reach adjacent land for commercial or non-commercial purposes;

  • (c) the right of a Government or its agents or contractors to enter, cross and stay on undeveloped settlement land for a period of more than one hundred and twenty consecutive days, and to use natural resources incidental to that access, in order to deliver, manage or maintain Government programs or projects, including, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the right to make necessary alterations of land or watercourses by earthmoving equipment for routine or emergency maintenance of transportation corridors;

  • (d) the right of any person authorized by law to provide utilities for public purposes, including electricity, telecommunications and municipal services, to enter, cross and stay on undeveloped settlement land for a period of more than one hundred and twenty consecutive days in order to carry out site investigations, assessments, surveys and studies in relation to proposed services;

  • (e) the right of the Department of National Defence to conduct military manoeuvres on undeveloped settlement land;

  • (f) the right of any person

    • (i) having a right, under and in accordance with laws of general application, to use water incidental to the exercise of a right or interest of that person in settlement land, or

      • (ii) holding a licence under the Yukon Waters Act or the Dominion Water Power Act for water on or flowing through settlement land, which licence existed when the land became settlement land,

    to use that settlement land in order to exercise that right or licence;

  • (g) the right of the holder of a commercial timber permit or a timber harvesting agreement to cross and make necessary stops on settlement land in order to reach adjacent land or to reach settlement land subject to that permit or agreement;

  • (h) the right of any person having an existing mineral right on settlement land, other than a person having a right described in paragraph 2(1)(g), to cross and make necessary stops on settlement land for the purpose of exercising that existing mineral right;

  • (i) the right of any person having an existing mineral right on non-settlement land, other than a person having a right described in paragraph 2(1)(g), to cross and make necessary stops on settlement land for the purpose of exercising that existing mineral right;

  • (j) the right of any person having a new mineral right on category B settlement land or fee simple settlement land, other than a person having a right described in paragraph 2(1)(h) or (i), to use, cross and make necessary stops on settlement land for the purpose of exercising that new mineral right;

  • (k) the right of any person having a new mineral right on non-settlement land, other than a person having a right described in paragraph 2(1)(h), to cross and make necessary stops on settlement land for the purpose of exercising that new mineral right; and

  • (l) the right of a Government, in relation to a right-of-way on a parcel of settlement land that is identified in Appendix A to a final agreement as a right-of-way to which a Specified Access Right applies, to significantly alter that parcel of settlement land for the purpose of maintaining the right-of-way.

Rights of Access Not Subject to Consent

• 2 (1) The rights not subject to the consent of the Yukon first nation concerned are the following:

  • (a) the right of any person to use a waterfront right-of-way on settlement land for travel or non-commercial recreation, including camping and sport fishing, and to use standing dead or deadfall firewood incidental to that use;

  • (b) the right of any person to enter, cross and make necessary stops on undeveloped settlement land in order to reach adjacent non-settlement land for commercial or non-commercial purposes;

  • (c) the right of any person to enter, cross and stay on undeveloped settlement land for a reasonable period for non-commercial recreational purposes;

  • (d) except where a final agreement requires, in relation to a parcel of settlement land, the consent of the Yukon first nation concerned, the right of a Government or its agents or contractors to enter, cross and stay on undeveloped settlement land for a period of not more than one hundred and twenty consecutive days, and to use natural resources incidental to that access, in order to deliver, manage or maintain Government programs or projects, including, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the right to make necessary alterations of land or watercourses by earthmoving equipment for routine or emergency maintenance of transportation corridors;

  • (e) the right of any person authorized by law to provide utilities for public purposes, including electricity, telecommunications and municipal services, to enter, cross and stay on undeveloped settlement land for a period of not more than one hundred and twenty consecutive days in order to carry out site investigations, assessments, surveys and studies in relation to proposed services, if there has been prior consultation with the Yukon first nation;

  • (f) the right of the holder of a trapline on settlement land, other than a Yukon Indian person, to construct and occupy on settlement land such cabins as are necessary for the reasonable use and enjoyment of the trapline and to cut necessary trails on the trapline;

  • (g) the right of any person having an existing mineral right on settlement land or non-settlement land to cross and make necessary stops on settlement land for the purpose of exercising that existing mineral right;

  • (h) the right of any person having a new mineral right on category B settlement land or fee simple settlement land or on non-settlement land to cross and make necessary stops on settlement land for the purpose of exercising that new mineral right; and

  • (i) the right of any person having a new mineral right on category B settlement land or fee simple settlement land to use the land in a manner that does not require the use of heavy equipment or methods more disruptive or damaging to the land than hand labour methods, for the purpose of exercising that new mineral right.

  • (2) A right described in paragraph (1)(a) or (c) is subject to the conditions that there will be no

    • (a) significant damage to settlement land or to improvements on settlement land;

    • (b) mischief committed on settlement land; or

    • (c) significant interference with the use and peaceful enjoyment of settlement land by the Yukon first nation.

  • (3) A right described in paragraph (1)(b) is subject to the conditions set out in subsection (2) and to the condition that

    • (a) the access is of a casual and insignificant nature; or

    • (b) the route used is generally recognized and was being used on a regular basis, whether year round or intermittently,

      • (i) prior to public notification of the selection of the settlement land for the final agreement of the Yukon first nation concerned, or prior to June 8, 1992 in the case of Tetlit Gwich’in Yukon lands, or

      • (ii) where the land became settlement land after the date that agreement takes effect, on the date the land became settlement land,

      and the exercise of the right does not result in a significant alteration of that route.

  • (4) A right described in paragraph (1)(d) or (e) is subject to the conditions that there will be no

    • (a) mischief committed on settlement land; or

    • (b) unnecessary interference with the use and peaceful enjoyment of settlement land by the Yukon first nation.

  • (5) A right described in paragraph (1)(g) or (h) is subject to the conditions set out in subsections (2) and (3) and to the condition that there will be no permanent structure erected on settlement land.

  • (6) A right described in paragraph (1)(i) is subject to the conditions that there will be no

    • (a) unnecessary damage to settlement land or significant damage to improvements on settlement land;

    • (b) mischief committed on settlement land; or

    • (c) unnecessary interference with the use and peaceful enjoyment of settlement land by the Yukon first nation.