Gwich’in Land Claim Settlement Act

WHEREAS the Gwich'in, from time immemorial, have traditionally used and occupied lands in Yukon and the Northwest Territories;WHEREAS the Constitution Act, 1982 recognizes and affirms the existing aboriginal and treaty rights of the aboriginal peoples of Canada;WHEREAS Her Majesty the Queen in right of Canada and the Gwich’in, as represented by the Gwich’in Tribal Council, have negotiated in order to achieve certainty and clarity of rights with respect to ownership and use of land and resources;WHEREAS Her Majesty the Queen in right of Canada and the Gwich’in, as represented by the Gwich’in Tribal Council, on April 22, 1992, entered into a comprehensive land claims agreement that, in exchange for the release by the Gwich’in of certain rights and claims as set out in the Agreement, defines certain rights that the Gwich’in shall have, and confirms the treaty rights of the Gwich’in that are unaffected by that release;WHEREAS the Agreement further provides that the Agreement will be a land claims agreement referred to in section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982 and that approval by Parliament is a condition precedent to the validity of the Agreement;NOW, THEREFORE, Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows:

Short Title

Interpretation

Her Majesty

Agreement

Other Laws

Appropriation

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— 2019, c. 29, par. 371(2)(a)Unless the context requires otherwise, every reference to the “Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development” is, with any grammatical adaptations, to be read as a reference to the “Department of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs” in the following provisions:paragraphs 7(a) and (b) of the Gwich’in Land Claim Settlement Act; — 2019, c. 29, par. 373(2)(a)Unless the context requires otherwise, every reference to the “Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development” is, with any grammatical adaptations, to be read as a reference to the “Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations” in the following provisions:the portion of section 7 of the Gwich’in Land Claim Settlement Act before paragraph (a);