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The following Recommendations and INAC Responses are from the 2009 Fall Report of the Auditor General of Canada, Chapter 6 that addresses issues around First Nation Land Management and Environmental Protection.

Click here for a copy of the entire Chapter 6

Transfer of control of land management

Recommendation 6.34 Indian and Northern Affairs Canada should ensure that First Nations who are ready and who want greater autonomy over their land management can access either the Reserve Land and Environment Management Program or the First Nations Land Management Act regime. (6.14–6.33)

The Department’s response. Agreed. The Reserve Land and Environment Management Program (RLEMP) began as a pilot program in 2005 and has been funded internally since its inception. Existing authorities were used to allow for a pilot of the RLEMP, limited to First Nations participating in existing programs.

Since 1996, a number of First Nations have sought access to the First Nations Land Management Act (FNLMA) regime. In 2002, an amendment to the Framework Agreement on First Nation Land Management was made to allow up to 30 First Nations in the developmental phase of the FNLMA regime at any given time.

In March 2008, INAC had to close the FNLMA regime to new entrants due to a lack of funding. The Department is currently seeking additional resources to effectively implement the FNLMA regime for participants and expand it to new First Nations.

In summer 2009, a sustainable funding source for the RLEMP was secured through the Aboriginal Economic Development Action Plan. With dedicated funding over four years, INAC will now be able to fully implement this program and allow up to 20 new First Nations per year to enter the RLEMP.

Recommendation 6.47 Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, in collaboration with First Nations, should seek to ensure that an appropriate training program is developed for First Nations in the First Nations Land Management Act regime. The Department should also ensure that appropriate training is made available to First Nations in either the Reserve Land and Environment Management Program or the FNLMA regime. This training should address the requirements under each of the respective regimes. (6.35–6.46)

Response: Agreed. The Reserve Land and Environment Management Program (RLEMP) has provided the only professional land management training available to First Nations for the past four years. Program evaluations and reviews of the RLEMP training program have concluded that the design and delivery of the training program are sound, credible, relevant and responsive to the needs of First Nations land managers and their communities.

From 1999 to 2005, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) provided funding to the First Nations Land Management Resource Centre to develop a training strategy and curricula that would address the specific capacity requirements of First Nations Land Management First Nations. In 2005, INAC discontinued this funding due to a lack of progress. While the RLEMP training was designed for First Nations managing lands under the Indian Act, the Department decided to offer that training on a priority basis to First Nations Land Management First Nations as a temporary measure.

A renewed effort by the Resource Centre to develop training and curricula specific to First Nations Land Management is currently being undertaken and INAC anticipates receiving a proposal to that effect in 2009–2010.

The RLEMP pilot project has been funded internally since its inception in 2005. The necessary sources of funds have not always been identified or available at the beginning of each fiscal year. As a result, there has been a delay in confirming whether the RLEMP training program could be offered in a given year and in notifying students of their acceptance into the training program.

As mentioned previously, a sustainable funding source for the RLEMP was secured in spring 2009 through the Aboriginal Economic Development Action Plan. With dedicated funding for this program over four years, INAC will now be able to engage in the appropriate planning and forecasting required to notify new students slated to participate in the RLEMP training program much sooner than before.

Environmental protection

Recommendation 6.75 Indian and Northern Affairs Canada and Environment Canada should work together, in partnership with First Nations, to develop and implement a strategy to identify and address residual environmental regulatory gaps on reserves, as required. (6.48–6.74)

Response Agreed. Indian and Northern Affairs Canada and Environment Canada will work together, and in partnership with First Nations, to develop a strategy to identify and close residual regulatory environmental gaps on reserves. However, some of these gaps will require legislative changes.

Recommendation 6.84 Indian and Northern Affairs Canada should develop and implement a plan to remediate, by 2020, high-risk and medium-risk sites on reserves that became contaminated prior to 1998, as the federal government has committed to doing. (6.76–6.83)

Response Agreed. The Indian and Inuit Affairs Contaminated Sites Management Program of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada will continue to work with First Nation communities to assess suspected and known contaminated sites with the goal of reducing risks to human health and the environment and reducing departmental liabilities.

The Contaminated Sites Management Program is currently on target to meet the 2020 deadline by maintaining an annual 15 percent reduction in the departmental liability related to known contaminated sites. As the program does not have dedicated program funds and has in the past been supported in part through internal reallocation, success in meeting 2020 targets will depend primarily on future levels of funding for the Federal Contaminated Sites Action Plan.

Funding constraints

Recommendation 6.90 Indian and Northern Affairs Canada and Environment Canada should each assess the funding requirements necessary to fulfill their land management responsibilities on reserves and meet their commitments. Each department should also identify how it will finance these responsibilities. (6.85–6.89)

Indian and Northern Affairs Canada’s response. Agreed. The Department is regularly assessing its funding requirements to fulfill land management responsibilities on reserves. To fully implement the First Nations Land Management Act regime for current participants and to expand it to a significant number of new participants, the Department would require additional funding in future years.

Environment Canada’s response. Agreed. The Department is assessing funding requirements for negotiating environmental management agreements under the First Nations Land Management Act, and options to address these requirements will be explored. Funding for other land management responsibilities will be assessed as part of the normal annual planning and priority-setting conducted by the Department.

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Why it’s important

Reserve lands are central to First Nations peoples’ history, cultural identity, and day-to-day activities. Many First Nations are among the most economically deprived communities in the country. Their sustainable economic development depends on their access to and control over their land and natural resources and on a clean and healthy environment. Without the capacity and means to develop and use their lands and resources sustainably for their economic benefit, the opportunities for First Nations to improve their quality of life and approach the standard of health and well-being enjoyed by other communities in Canada are severely restricted.

What we found

• Indian and Northern Affairs Canada and Environment Canada have identified a significant gap between First Nations reserves and Canadian communities elsewhere in the degree to which regulations protect the environment. While the federal government has the authority to regulate environmental threats on reserves, it has rarely used this authority to develop regulations to mitigate environmental threats that are regulated off reserves by provincial governments.
• INAC has done little to monitor and enforce compliance with existing regulations. For example, while regulations under the Indian Act require a permit issued by INAC to operate a landfill site or burn waste on reserve lands, the Department has issued few permits and is not equipped to conduct inspections, monitor compliance, and enforce the regulations. Consequently, garbage is often not confined to licensed landfill sites and there is no monitoring of the impacts on drinking water sources and air quality. Off reserves, provincial and municipal regulations and enforcement help to prevent such situations.
• Although INAC has developed legislative and program options to support First Nations who wish to assume partial or full control of land management on their reserves, most First Nations lands are still managed by the Department under the Indian Act. First Nations’ access to alternative land management regimes established by INAC does not meet the demand. Consequently, INAC is unable to keep its commitment to transfer greater control of land management to First Nations who want it and are ready to take on these responsibilities. Furthermore, for First Nations under either of the alternative land management regimes, the Department provides insufficient training in comparison with the land management responsibilities it is transferring to them.
• Officials of both INAC and Environment Canada cited a lack of funding as a key reason for not meeting some of their commitments.

The departments have responded. The departments agree with all of our recommendations. Their detailed responses follow each recommendation throughout the chapter.