Provincial Capabilty and Lack of Section 35 and UNDRIP Support.

The Federal government has to proceed with caution when giving the province more authority to complete EA’s without full Federal involvement. As a member of Qalipu First Nation, an active EA consultant and being actively involved in the mineral prospecting industry I can say that the Provincial Government has only limited capabilities to conduct effective EA’s especially those where Indigenous Peoples are involved. This issue must be rectified before an agreement giving the province more power to conduct EA’s without or with limited involvement of the Federal Process is considered. Having worked in EA process, both provincially and federally this statement is based on decades of experience working at both the federal and provincial level. The very minimum that would be required is a signed commitment by the province that mandates the consideration of Section 35 and UNDRIP in all undertaking where indigenous people have the potential to be impacted. Without this the impact on first Nation members and non-members in a large number of NL communities will become a secondary consideration at best.