Michael J. Bruni

The appellant tribal council appealed a decision holding that the Energy Resources Conservation Board lacked jurisdiction to impose an affirmative action program for native employment as a condition of approving a tar sands project.

The Supreme Court of Canada dismissed the appeal, finding that the Board's statutory mandate was limited to the regulation of energy resources and did not extend to social welfare or affirmative action programs.

While not strictly necessary to decide, several justices noted that such an affirmative action program would not violate provincial human rights legislation.

The appellants challenged the jurisdiction of the Alberta Energy Resources Conservation Board to entertain an application by Calgary Power Ltd. for the construction of an electrical transmission line to the Alberta-British Columbia border, intended to interconnect with a line in British Columbia.

The Supreme Court of Canada held that, in the absence of federal legislation regulating the interconnection, the provincial board had the constitutional authority to approve the intraprovincial construction and operation of the facilities, as they constituted a local work and undertaking under s. 92(10)(a) of the British North America Act.