Indigenous Consultation and Reserve Lands

When an energy project needs a provincial approval on Crown land, Alberta may direct the company to carry out the procedural steps of consultation with First Nations, Metis Settlements and Credibly Asserted Métis Communities, and the land office usually does that work. This course follows a licensed land agent's own consultation files, set against Alberta's current consultation guidelines and Proponent Guide: the pre-consultation assessment, the levels of consultation, the notification letters and follow-ups, the concern and response table, the record of consultation log and the request for an adequacy assessment. The last lesson turns to land the province does not administer: a surface lease on reserve land through Indian Oil and Gas Canada, and surface access on a Métis settlement.

It is for practising Alberta land agents, and the surface land administrators and coordinators who prepare consultation packages, keep consultation logs and assemble IOGC applications. It is designed as continuing-competence learning for Alberta land agents, at an intermediate level rather than entry-level training.

What you will learn

• Explain who holds the duty to consult, what the province may delegate to a company and what it keeps
• Request a pre-consultation assessment through the ACO Digital Service, read its outcome and record the File Number for Consultation on the project
• Prepare the information package and notification letter for the level assigned, deliver it verifiably and run the response period and follow-ups
• Keep the consultation concern and response table and the record of consultation log, and request the adequacy assessment
• Sequence an IOGC surface lease, from permission to survey through the Band Council Resolution to the grant
• Explain surface access on a Métis settlement: the consents required, and the Land Access Panel route when an occupant does not consent