WHEREAS Section 92.13 of the Constitution Act 1867 provides exclusive jurisdiction to the Province over property and civil rights;

WHEREAS the Third Schedule of the Constitution Act 1867 provides for the jurisdiction of the Central Government o be the Property of Canada,” namely

1. Canals, with Lands and Water Power connected there-with
2. Public Harbours
3. Light Houses and Piers, and Sable Island
4. Steamboats, Dredges, and Public Vessels
5. Rivers and Lake Improvements
6. Railway and Railway Stocks, Mortgages and other Debts by Railway Companies
7. Military Roads
8. Custom Houses Post Offices, and all other Public Buildings, except such as the Government of Canada appropriate for the Use of the Provincial Legislatures and Governments
9. Property Transferred by the Imperial Government, and known as Ordnance Property
10. Armouries, Drill Sheds, Military Clothing, and Munitions of War, and the Lands set Apart for general Public Purposes (which might include National Parks; added by the writer)

WHEREAS Section 27(2) of the Species at Risk Act (SARA) states that Land Claim Agreements only apply to Aboriginals (Section 35, Constitution Act 1982);

WHEREAS Section 58(1) of SARA gives federal jurisdiction on federal lands;

WHEREAS Section 61(4) of SARA provides for the federal jurisdiction over provincial laws it deems not to be sufficient;

WHEREAS Section 62 of SARA states that the Government may acquire lands or interests in lands to accommodate Protection Orders, programs or designations;

WHEREAS Section 64 of SARA states that the Minister may, in accordance with the regulations, provide for fair reasonable compensation to any person for losses suffered as a result of any extraordinary impact of the application… (The Minister then has total discretion of what defines ‘extraordinary impact’);

BE IT RESOLVED that SARM urge the Government of Saskatchewan to request the Government of Canada to amend the Species at Risk Act to include an addition to Section 64 of the Act to be entered as 64(1), to read as follows:

“The Minister(s), before implementing any order, plan, program, or designation that affects and proprietary interest in lands, held by title or leased, by any individual, corporation or entity other than government, shall enter into an agreement to establish the compensation for the loss of interest in those lands including relative legal expenses, or the loss of productivity of those lands, and for the greater certainty, no order, plan, program or designation shall be in force until the agreement is ratified by all parties involved.”;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Government of Saskatchewan reaffirm to the Government of Canada that any action, program, plan, order, or designation contrived by the federal government that affects any lands or properties that are not within the proprietary responsibility of the Government of Canada set out in Schedule Three of the Constitution Act 1867, will have no force or effected and considered ultra-vires to the Supreme Law of Canada as referenced by Section 92.13 Constitution Act 1867 and assuredly, Section 52 of the Constitution Act 1982. 

View response from the Ministry of Environment