Wednesday, September 25, 2024

The Standing Senate Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources has the honour to present its

TENTH REPORT

Your committee, to which was referred Bill C-49, An Act to amend the Canada—Newfoundland and Labrador Atlantic Accord Implementation Act and the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Resources Accord Implementation Act and to make consequential amendments to other Acts, has, in obedience to the order of reference of June 6, 2024, examined the said bill and now reports the same with the following amendments:

1.Clause 7, page 4: Replace line 2 with the following:

“section 5(1), section 29.1, subsection 41(7),”.

2.Delete clause 28, pages 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16.

3.Make any necessary consequential changes to the numbering of provisions and cross-references resulting from the amendments to the bill.

Respectfully submitted,

Observations to the tenth report of the Standing Senate Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources (Bill C-49)

There exists in Nova Scotia the tripartite Terms of Reference signed in 2010, which establishes a process for consulting on any legislation, policies, or actions by the federal and/or provincial government that may impact the rights of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaq. Chief Sidney Peters, who represents 12 of the 13 Mi’kmaw communities in the province received a mandate from all his member chiefs to ask for several amendments regarding concerns spanning from a lack of consultation requirements at key decision points throughout the proposed process to compensation to inclusive language on bidding on contracts.

This committee strongly disagrees with any process that does not honour the commitments made by the signatories of the Terms of Reference and encourages that the honour of the Crown be upheld in all future legislation and policy initiatives that impact Nova Scotia Mi’kmaq.