Poundmaker, Onion Lake Cree Nations file $3B lawsuit over oil, gas rights
原始发布日期： 2016-02-09 发布者：李方字变大 字变小
SASKATOON, SASK.; AUGUST 20, 2015 - (BestPhoto) Onion LakeÕs Chief Wallace Fox hosting a new conference to discuss the court case appealing the federal government's law on financial disclosure, August 20, 2015 (GORD WALDNER/The StarPhoenix) Gord Waldner / Edmonton JournalUnder the class action, filed Monday under Section 48 (1) of the Federal Courts Act, the First Nations “allege a continuing breach of fiduciary duty and negligence on the part of the federal government and also request an accounting.” The plaintiffs estimate damages at $3 billion. Onion Lake Cree Nation straddles the Alberta-Saskatchewan border, north of Lloydminster, while Poundmaker First Nation is in western Saskatchewan. In their statement of claim, they accuse Indian Oil and Gas Canada of failing to promote and develop the resource. The bands also claim the agency failed to protect energy resources under their lands from being drained by wells adjacent to them. “For many years the federal government has controlled the exploitation of oil and gas rights on First Nation reserves. The federal government has botched this important responsibility,” Onion Lake Chief Wallace Fox said in a written statement. In the class action, the plaintiffs claim that the Poundmaker Reserve lands, Onion Lake Reserve lands and reserve lands of the other class members contained oil and gas rights “which were ripe for exploitation.” Each class member conditionally designated these oil and gas rights on its Reserve lands to the Crown to ensure that they were “fully exploited for its benefit,” according to the class action. Poundmaker Chief Duane Antoine said in a statement it is “disappointing that the federal government didn’t protect our non-renewable oil and gas resources from drainage by wells on the lands bordering our Reserve lands. We are a poor people and the revenue from those resources could have done much good for our community.” Harvey T. Strosberg, one of the lawyers representing the plaintiffs, said in a written statement that “given that the new federal government has been clear about its desire to rebuild its relationship with First Nations, we hope, in this spirit, that the federal government would talk rather than immediately fight in court.” Statements of claim contain allegations that have not been proven in court. Among the items claimed in the lawsuit: •A declaration that the federal government, the Department of Indian Affairs and Indian Oil and Gas Canada (an operating agency of the Department of Indian Affairs) owed a “fiduciary duty to the Class members and each breached its fiduciary duty;” that they owed a duty of care to the Class members and each breached the standard of care and was negligent; damages for breach of fiduciary duty and negligence in the amount of $3 billion. • The federal government “breached its fiduciary obligations to the plaintiffs and the other Class members and was negligent in failing to fully and properly exploits the Class members’ oil and gas rights on designated Reserve lands, failing to protect the loss of their oil and gas rights, and failing to properly collect and account to the class members in respect of their oil and gas rights resulting in the class members suffering damages.” • “Generally the IOGC did not actively promote and solicit leasing opportunities to exploit the oil and gas rights on the designated Reserve lands under its management and control … Moreover, where designated Reserve lands under IOGC’s management and control which are not leased are adjacent to producing wells on non-reserve lands, IOGC generally did not actively promote and solicit leasing opportunities for those adjacent designated Reserve lands to eliminate and/or mitigate the drainage of their oil and gas resources.” • The Indian Oil and Gas Act, and the Indian Act, impose a fiduciary duty on the Crown, the Department of Indian Affairs and the IOGC to “take all necessary steps to identify and ascertain the quantum of the resources they are tasked with developing, managing and administering.” • The defendant “breached their fiduciary duty to Poundmaker, Onion Lake and the other Class members by failing to discharge their obligations and responsibilities … and by failing to provide sufficient funds, systems, procedures, staffing and oversight to enable them to carry out those obligations and responsibilities.” — With files from The Canadian Press (Calgary Herald) |