Occasional Papers: 80-89
A Guide to the Basics and What’s New in Alberta’s Municipal Legislation for Environmental Management
By Dr. Judy Stewart, PhD, 2022
57 pp. Occasional Paper #80
The primary purpose of this Guide is to update the reader to recent changes regarding municipal purposes and municipal authority for environmental management on local and regional geopolitical scales. This Guide is not a rewrite of Mallet’s 2005 paper, but a supplement that highlights emergent policy and regulatory change. The information in this Guide is presented in an ‘iterative’ fashion throughout because all aspects of municipal environmental management are interconnected.
Updated Federal and Alberta Legal Requirements for Consultation with Indigenous Peoples in Alberta - 2023
By David Laidlaw and Sara Jaremko
210 pp. Occasional Paper #81
In this Report, the authors we discuss the origin of the Crowns’ constitutional duty to consult and accommodate aboriginal peoples prior to making a decision affecting their interests as expressed in Haida and Taku River in 2004 and extended to Treaty circumstance in Mikisew in 2005.
Legal Rights to a Healthy Environment
By Alastair R. Lucas and Akinbobola Olugbemi
30 pp. Occasional Paper #82
This paper assesses the status of environmental rights in Alberta and Canada, taking its cue from Bill C-28, the Strengthening Environmental Protection for a Healthier Canada Act. The conclusion is that Canada has no substantive constitution or statute - based environmental rights. However, international law norms influence Canadian Law, particularly in statutory interpretation and application of common law substantive doctrine and traditional procedural principles. Relevant international law will be explored, but the focus will be on Canada with limited international comparison. A handful of Canadian judicial decisions have discussed these concepts and values, and statutory and common law procedural rights exist. But environmental rights remain largely without legal recognition.
A Guide to Alberta's Municipal Environmental Bylaws: Overview and Examples
By Dr. Judy Stewart
89 pp. Occasional Paper #83
The primary purpose of the Guide is to provide an overview of municipal authority to enact environmental bylaws, and describe these bylaws as they have emerged in certain municipalities to address complex ecosystem dynamics. The secondary purpose is to provide examples of environmental bylaws that could be used as starting points by municipal councils and administrators when developing similar bylaws.
A Guide to Alberta Public Land Law
By Alastair R. Lucas and Daniel Ebegbodi
29 pp. Occasional Paper #84
This guide is intended to raise public awareness about public lands, highlight their current significance, how they are managed, and improve public knowledge about public lands’ nature, history, and legal framework. It should provide information to enhance public participation and involvement in public lands decisions and transactions.
A Guide to the Alberta Mineral Resource Development Act
By Chilenye Nwapi
30 pp. Occasional Paper #85
The purpose of the Guide is to help Alberta residents and other interested persons understand the complex regulatory framework for mineral resource development in Alberta. The Guide is intended to inform members of the Alberta public so that they may influence and participate in the decision-making processes regarding the development of critical mineral resources in the province.