20. Aboriginal Rights and Interests Effects
20. ASSESSMENT OF ABORIGINAL AND TREATY RIGHTS AND RELATED INTERESTS 20.1 INTRODUCTION This chapter assesses potential adverse effects on Aboriginal and Treaty rights and related interests which may arise from the Project during construction, operations, decommissioning/reclamation, and post-closure. Underground mining activities have the potential to adversely affect Aboriginal and Treaty rights by interfering with Aboriginal groups’ ability to engage in practices, customs, and traditions that are integral to their distinctive cultures, and/or by interfering with the exercise of rights expressly recognized in a treaty. Interference with Aboriginal and Treaty rights is generally indirect, resulting from changes to environmental conditions that are necessary for the continued exercise of Aboriginal and Treaty rights. The assessment is based on information derived from the Proponent’s engagement with potentially- affected Aboriginal groups, environmental assessments carried out elsewhere in the Application/EIS, and the review of secondary data. Wherever possible, the assessment addresses potential effects on Aboriginal and treaty rights and related interests as understood from the perspective of the Aboriginal groups in question. Baseline reports informing this assessment are appended to the Application/EIS and include: Ethnographic Overview and Traditional Knowledge and Use Desk-Based Research Report (Appendix 17-A) and Saulteau First Nations Knowledge and Use Study for HD Mining Murray River Coal Project (Appendix 17-B). 20.2 REGULATORY AND POLICY FRAMEWORK The Crown has a legal duty to consult with and, where appropriate, accommodate Aboriginal interests when it contemplates a conduct that might adversely impact the potential or established Aboriginal or Treaty right. The Crown delegated procedural aspects of this duty, with respect to the Project, to the Proponent through the Section 11 Order and EIS Guidelines.
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