We have a special interest in assisting Indigenous governments with regulatory hearings and legislative reviews.
We believe in supporting our clients in building and maintaining strong governance structures that reflect their Indigenous laws. In this work, we assist in designing governance structures, drafting governance documents, providing training, and over time, increasing the merging and implementing of Indigenous laws in the exercise of governance procedures consistent with Aboriginal rights and title.
“The Spawn” by KC Hall
Ng Ariss Fong is a supporter of West Coast Environmental Law and RAVEN, and with the help of these organizations, has provided representation on important environmental issues. Areas of work include pipeline, mining, and energy law, water law, environmental assessments, agricultural land use law, and the intersection between aboriginal rights and the environment.
We look forward to collaborating with WCEL, RAVEN and others to safeguard the coast from oil spills through better environmental protection.
We believe energy projects that may impact Indigenous interests must aim for consent of the Indigenous government, following proper consultation and accommodation. Modern-day engagement with Indigenous governments on such projects requires that the Crown act pursuant to Crown laws that respect the rights of Indigenous peoples under the United Nations Declaration on the Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), and that such projects undergo environmental assessments that respect Indigenous laws and incorporate their methodologies and knowledge.
Our legal services in this area extend to negotiations, consultation meetings, and hearings before the Canada Energy Regulator (formerly the National Energy Board), the CER’s Pipeline Arbitration Committee, impact assessment review panels, the BC Environmental Appeal Board, and all levels of court. We represented First Nations in the national consultation on the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act 2012, the Navigation Protection Act, the Fisheries Act, the National Energy Board Act, and the Oil Tanker Moratorium Act.
In 2015 and 2016, we had the privilege of representing Heiltsuk First Nation and Kitasoo/Xai’xais First Nation during a judicial review before the Federal Court of Appeal, and successfully challenged the certification of the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline: see our blog article here.
Chief Councillor Marilyn Slett and Himas Harvey Humchitt of Heiltsuk First Nation.
For Heiltsuk First Nation, the success of the defeat of the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline was short-lived. On October 13th, 2016, the Nathan E. Stewart – an articulated tug-barge – grounded, sank, and spilled over 100,000 liters of marine diesel and hydraulic oil into a key commercial and traditional harvest area. In October 2018, Ng Ariss Fong filed on behalf of the Nation a civil claim seeking a declaration of Aboriginal title to foreshore and seabed in the impacted area, establishing cultural and harvest losses from the oil spill, and challenging compensation limitations in the marine compensation scheme that infringe Aboriginal rights and title. In 2019, Heiltsuk’s claims expanded to the Federal Court and the Ship-Source Oil Pollution Fund.
In 2020, to support the creation of robust environmental protections, Ng Ariss Fong acted for Heiltsuk First Nation alongside other First Nations, before the Supreme Court of Canada, in the Reference re: proposed amendments to the Environmental Management Act (the “Crude Oil Reference”). The Crude Oil Reference was about the constitutionality of British Columbia’s power to require environmental protection permits on projects like the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. Ultimately, before the Supreme Court of Canada, British Columbia was unsuccessful in establishing it had jurisdiction to create permits to regulate heavy oil transport and protect the environment. The critical issues of proper environmental protection and the liability of polluters are still unresolved, as there has been no advancement in current marine or environmental protection legislation. The Environmental Management Act remains incapable of forcing polluters to pay for all losses that may result from a spill.
As of 2021, free miners had staked more than 15 percent of Gitxaala’s territory on Banks Island. One company staked a swath at the centre of the island from the west coast to the east coast, cutting the island in half. Ng Ariss Fong is acting for Gitxaala First Nation in challenging the automatic mineral tenure staking system under the Mineral Tenure Act. The current staking system allows for automatic staking without any notice or consultation with First Nations. All that is required is a computer, $25 for a free miner certificate, and $1.85 per hectare to stake available land. This archaic and discriminatory system is a failure of the Crown’s duty to consult, inconsistent with the honour of the Crown, and contravenes the requirement under the Declaration Act (DRIPA) that BC laws be consistent with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).