Definitions and interpretation

1   (1) In this Act:

"Advisory Council" means the Advisory Council established under section 2;

"District Council" means the shíshálh Nation Government District Council continued under the shíshálh Nation Self-Government Act (Canada);

"municipal benefit" includes a service, a grant of money, a right or eligibility to participate in a program, and any other benefit available to a municipality under an enactment;

"shíshálh Nation Government District" means the shíshálh Nation Government District continued under the shíshálh Nation Self-Government Act (Canada).

(2) Nothing in this Act is to be construed as conferring on, or authorizing the conferral on, the District Council or Advisory Council of legislative powers.

Status of District Council and establishment of Advisory Council

2   (1) The District Council is recognized as the governing body of the shíshálh Nation Government District.

(2) The Lieutenant Governor in Council must by regulation establish an Advisory Council to represent all the residents of the shíshálh Nation Government District.

Laws and bylaws

3   If in the exercise of its powers of self-government conferred by the shíshálh Nation Self-Government Act (Canada) the District Council enacts laws or bylaws that a municipality has power to enact under an Act of British Columbia, those laws or bylaws are, for the purposes of this Act, deemed to have been enacted under the authority of that Act of British Columbia.

Municipal benefits

4   (1) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may by regulation declare that the District Council is entitled to or eligible for municipal benefits specified in the regulation.

(2) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may prescribe requirements to be met by the District Council as a condition of being entitled to or eligible for a municipal benefit and, where the Lieutenant Governor in Council considers it necessary or desirable, may, for this purpose, make applicable a provision of an enactment.

(3) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may by regulation

(a) vary or withdraw the entitlement or eligibility of the District Council to or for a municipal benefit, or

(b) specify an additional municipal benefit to which the District Council is entitled or for which it is eligible.

Suspension of taxation under other Acts

5   If the District Council desires to provide services in respect of the shíshálh Nation Government District of a nature similar to services provided by a municipality, the Lieutenant Governor in Council may by regulation, for the purpose of assisting the District Council to provide those services, suspend, to the extent and subject to conditions the Lieutenant Governor in Council considers necessary or desirable, the liability of persons to taxation in respect of their interests in lands in the shíshálh Nation Government District under the following Acts:

(a) Community Charter;

(b) Local Government Act;

(c) Taxation (Rural Area) Act.

Approving officers

6   A person appointed as an approving officer by the shíshálh Nation Government District may, with respect to land in that district, exercise the jurisdiction conferred on an approving officer by the Land Title Act, a regulation under it or by any other enactment.

Repealed

7   [Repealed 2024-10-52.]

Power to make regulations

8   (1) Nothing in this section limits the scope of section 2 (2), 4 or 5, and nothing in those sections limits the scope of this section.

(2) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations referred to in section 41 of the Interpretation Act.

(3) Without limiting subsection (2), the Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations as follows:

(a) facilitating the exercise and discharge by the District Council of powers, duties and functions analogous to those of a municipality;

(b) delegating or entrusting to the District Council administrative duties, functions and responsibilities that the Lieutenant Governor in Council considers desirable and consistent with the local administration of municipal services;

(c) for the purpose of assisting the District Council to exercise and discharge a power, duty, function or responsibility, making applicable in respect of the District Council a provision of an enactment;

(d) appointing or providing for the appointment of the initial members of the Advisory Council and for election of their successors;

(e) authorizing and empowering the Advisory Council to receive from the District Council, and to expend, money required for the conduct of elections and for the conduct of the business of the Advisory Council;

(f) conferring on the Advisory Council any powers, duties and functions considered necessary or advisable to carry out its purpose as an advisory body to the District Council.