Comprehensive Land Claims Agreements (CLCAs)

Comprehensive Land Claims Agreements (CLCAs) are modern treaties negotiated by the Government of Canada with Indigenous peoples. They address Aboriginal rights and title to lands that an Indigenous group has traditionally used and occupied, where those rights have not been dealt with by an earlier treaty or other legal means. CLCAs are legally binding because they are signed by Canada and backed by legislation, as CanadaBuys explains.

For suppliers, the practical point is that many CLCAs include economic measures that create procurement obligations for the federal government. When goods, construction or other services are delivered in an area covered by an agreement, those obligations can shape how a solicitation is planned, advertised and evaluated.

Who signs a CLCA and what it covers

CLCAs are generally tripartite agreements. The parties are an Indigenous organization or nation, the Crown, and a provincial or territorial government. They establish rights relating to land, resources, and the ownership and management of both.

The federal government states that 25 modern treaties have received Royal Assent, and 22 of them include economic measures with procurement obligations. The exact obligations differ from one agreement to the next, so a supplier cannot assume that the requirements in one region apply in another.

Procurement measures that a CLCA can require

The applicable treaty and the solicitation determine what is required. Depending on the agreement and the procurement, the measures set out in federal guidance on CLCAs can include:

• notifying claimant groups or modern-treaty beneficiary firms of opportunities;
• consulting modern-treaty business directories or supplier lists;
• structuring requirements into commodity or geographic groupings where practical;
• using evaluation criteria intended to benefit modern-treaty beneficiaries, where practical and consistent with sound procurement management; and
• providing a right of first refusal for certain procurements, which can include archaeology, heritage, parks or surveying work.

Buyers must determine during procurement planning whether CLCA obligations apply. They must also document the measures taken, particularly on requirements definition, notification and evaluation criteria.

Who is responsible inside government

Federal contracting authorities are responsible for understanding modern-treaty requirements and complying with the obligations that affect procurements in CLCA areas. The Treasury Board's procurement directive identifies this as a contracting-authority responsibility.

Public Services and Procurement Canada builds CLCA considerations into its guidance, supply arrangements and solicitation documents. Its Supply Manual annexes call for the procurement strategy to state whether a procurement is subject to one or more CLCAs, where applicable. Correctional Service Canada, in Commissioner's Directive 350-3, requires its contracting and procurement officers to apply CLCA obligations where final delivery occurs in settlement areas covered by an applicable agreement.

How CLCAs appear in solicitations and supply arrangements

A solicitation can state outright that the procurement is subject to a named agreement. The wording reads "This procurement is subject to the following Comprehensive Land Claims Agreement(s)" and is followed by the agreement, such as the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement, the Northeastern Quebec Agreement, the Nunavik Inuit Land Claims Agreement or the Maa-nulth Nations Final Agreement. Examples appear in a request for supply arrangement for archaeological services and in a PSPC request for proposals. The resulting contract can repeat that statement.

Some PSPC supply arrangements exclude deliveries to CLCA areas in Yukon, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Quebec and Labrador. Requirements for those areas must be handled as separate procurements outside the arrangement, as set out in the task-based informatics supply arrangement and the task and solutions professional services arrangement.

What a CLCA means for your bid

Check every solicitation for a CLCA statement and note the agreement it names. If the delivery location falls in a covered area, expect notification, evaluation criteria or first-refusal rights that favour beneficiary firms. Confirm whether your supply arrangement excludes that region before you plan a response. Read the specific agreement named, because obligations are not uniform across the 22 treaties that carry procurement measures.