Canada has an obligation set out in the Gwich'in Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement and the Sahtu Dene and Métis Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement to establish a surface rights board act with jurisdiction to resolve matters with respect to terms and conditions of access and compensation to be paid for any of the access.
The establishment of the board is also provided for in the Tlicho Agreement and the Inuvialuit Final Agreement.
The department has twice attempted to create surface rights legislation, once in the early 1990s during negotiations on the Gwich'in and Sahtu comprehensive land claim agreements, and a second attempt in 2004. A bill was never completed at that time due to competing priorities of all the parties. Work on the proposed legislation that you see before you was started again in 2010 with the announcement of the action plan to improve northern regulatory regimes.