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Newfoundland • Protected Areas • Lands and Regulations • Issues & AdvocacyThis data was accurate as of April 2008.
Page Index
Land
description:
Brief History: (prior to initiation of land use plan and
development) In 1991the government announced that they would make every effort to complete a system of protected areas by the year 2000. This commitment was further reaffirmed in the 1992 signing by the Canadian Parks Ministers Council of A Statement of Commitment to Complete Canada’s Networks of Protected Areas, by the year 2000. In 1994, the Whitehorse Mining Initiative was signed to provide a strategic vision for a healthy mining industry in the context of maintaining healthy and diverse ecosystems in Canada. Among other things it called for establishing an ecologically based system of protected areas. Representatives of five sectors agreed to participate. They were the mining industry, senior governments, labour unions, Aboriginal peoples, and the environmental community. A report from the Land Access Issue group was released in 1994. On October 26, 2000, the government released a document for the strategy on the province’s Natural Areas Plan, entitled Protecting Our Natural Heritage. This is a policy document outlining the objectives of protecting the province’s natural spaces which will result in the release of the Natural Areas Plan.
Process of Development/Consultation Type: The consultation process began with the release of the Protecting Our Natural Heritage document and will be followed by the release of the Natural Areas Plan. There will be on-going opportunity for public review on each candidate site as is required under the WER Act. During consultation periods, activities such as mineral exploration will be allowed to continue.
PAS Implementation and Candidate PA selection process: The WER Advisory Council is a cabinet-appointed body charged with proposing areas for protection through the Minister of Environment and Conservation. Under the WER Act, the Advisory Council is not required to consult with the public, prior to an area being given provisional protected status. There is currently no policy on compensation for mineral rights that are withdrawn in protected areas, however, rights that are denied are dependent on the nature of the protected area, and in most cases mineral rights are grandfathered into protected areas. For provincial parks, the rights are withdrawn and the expropriation has been dealt with through a negotiated settlement. For National Parks, the matter of compensation would be negotiated with Parks Canada and in the case of the Torngats requirements in the Interim Measures agreement with the Labrador Inuit required that the province effectively expropriate the mineral rights prior to a land transfer, which was done through a negotiated settlement.
Results: Approximately two-thirds of the entire protected areas system in Newfoundland and Labrador has been established since the province signed the Statement of Commitment in 1992. The last reserve to be designated was in 2002, in collaboration with the Nature Conservancy of Canada. In 2005, on the Island, 7.7% of the land was under protective status, while in Labrador it was 3.3%. In addition, the Mealy Mountains National Park feasibility study area of 2.4 million hectares was declared Exempt Mineral Land in 2001.
First Nations Land Claim Settlements: The Innu of Labrador reside in two communities and have been engaged in the process of self-government negotiations and land rights since 1991. A framework agreement between the federal and provincial governments and the Innu was signed in 1996 to deal with land claims. The Innu lands claimed cover most of Labrador and overlap the Inuit claim. No specific lands have been selected to date. The Inuit of Labrador live in five northern coastal communities. A land claim agreement took effect on December 1, 2005. Approximately 1,579,900ha have been ceded to the Inuit as Labrador Inuit Lands (LIL) and the Inuit will own approximately 395,000ha for Specified Material Lands. The Inuit will have final say in land use planning and the creation of protected areas on these lands, and the Inuit also have a 25% joint interest with the government of Newfoundland and Labrador in subsurface rights. Existing surface and sub-surface interests will continue until expiry or renewal. Expired interests will become part of the LIL and renewed interests will be negotiated with the Inuit Central Government. The Inuit Central Government and Newfoundland and Labrador may agree to exempt lands within the LIL from acquisition of sub-surface interests. A comprehensive land use plan for the entire Inuit land claim area (Settlement Area) will be undertaken by December 2009. Aboriginal rights in the Voisey’s Bay area have been determined through interim bilateral agreements with the province and will be cemented in final land claims agreements. The area will be available for aboriginal ownership once mining has been completed.
Post-completion and/or On-Going issues: In January 2006, the Newfoundland and Labrador Ministry of Environment and Conservation signed a memorandum of understanding with the Canadian Boreal Initiative to work cooperatively to advance the establishment of protected areas in the province’s boreal region.
Government Departments, Agencies and Legislation, for further
information:
Mines and Energy www.gov.nf.ca/mines&en/
Non-governmental organizations
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