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south of Fort McMurray, is taking the province to task for allowing MEG Energy Corp. to build its three-phase, 210,000 barrel-per-day Christina Lake project nearby. In the northern community of Fort Chipewyan, the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation is taking a slightly differ- ent tack of challenging the validity of granting leases of Crown land without consulting aboriginal groups. Further south, the Beaver Lake Cree Nation claims a number of developments, some already built and a few that are in the works, breach its treaty rights. In all three instances, the aboriginal groups are seeking either to overturn or delay the projects. "Our ability to hunt and fish will be infringed on," Chipewyan Prairie Chief Vern Janvier says of the MEG project. "My concern is the long term. Phase three is threatening the whole ecosys- tem at Winefred Lake [near Janvier]. If they build there, within 10 years our fish aren't going to be very good. They're still going to be there but they're not going to be worth eating." At issue are environmental rights from developments that may threaten resources such as wildlife habitat and water. Noting that language in Treaty 8 signed with the government guaranteed First Nations' right to hunt, trap, and fish on surrendered lands, the statement of claim filed by Chipewyan Prairie argues officials had a duty to consult with it to ensure band members could continue to do so. The treaty also allows for such lands to be "taken up" by the Crown for purposes such as settlement, mining, lumbering, and trading, but as the state- ment of claim points out, previous court decisions, notably Mikisew Cree First Nation v. Canada (Minister of Canadian Heritage), have emphasized the govern- ment's duty to do so honourably. In that case, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled the requirement to consult was commen- surate with the degree of infringement to aboriginal entitlements. In Alberta, the government has largely delegated the responsibility to consult with First Nations to industry. As a result, the government will grant leases to a company, as it did to Shell Canada Ltd. in the Fort Chipewyan www. C ANADIAN Law ye rmag.com SEPTEMBER 2009 47 VICTOR GAD