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Global rules on foreign direct investment (FDI)
Cross-border acquisitions and investments increasingly trigger foreign direct investment (FDI) screening requirements.
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Canada | Publication | May 12, 2023
On May 4, the province of BC issued Order-in-Council No. 283,1 which gives approval to the BC Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation to enter into a tripartite agreement with Squamish Nation and Canada to make regulations to govern residential tenancies on Squamish reserve lands (the Draft Agreement).
The question of which laws govern landlord-tenant relationships on First Nations lands is complex. The answer depends on case-specific factors such as the type of land at issue, the existence of any laws passed by the First Nation to govern residential tenancies, the subject matter of the underlying landlord-tenant dispute, and the identities of the landlord and tenant. As a result, residential tenancies on First Nations lands in BC may be subject to:
In some cases, there may be a gap in the governing framework, such as where the Residential Tenancy Act does not apply, but there is no equivalent federal statute that covers the same area.
In this instance, the Draft Agreement is made under the First Nations Commercial and Industrial Development Act2 (FNCIDA), which allows First Nations to request that Canada issue regulations that apply to specified commercial or industrial projects on reserve.3 FNCIDA has only been used five times since it came into force in 2005. The Draft Agreement is the first time FNCIDA has been extended beyond commercial and industrial projects to housing projects on reserve.
The Draft Agreement provides certainty on the legislative scheme that will apply to certain residential housing projects on Squamish Nation reserve lands. Under the Draft Agreement:
The Regulations, once enacted, are expected to provide a comprehensive framework that will govern landlord-tenant issues in these residential housing projects located on reserve, and serve as a potential model going forward for future housing projects.
Publication
Cross-border acquisitions and investments increasingly trigger foreign direct investment (FDI) screening requirements.
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