The natural resources acts were a series of Acts passed by the Parliament of Canada and the provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan in 1930 to transfer control over crown lands and natural resources within these provinces from the Government of Canada to the provincial governments.
Alberta,[1] Manitoba[2] and Saskatchewan[3] had not been given control over their natural resources when they entered Confederation, unlike the other Canadian provinces.
[4] British Columbia had surrendered certain portions of its natural resources and Crown lands to the federal government, the Railway Belt and the Peace River Block, when it entered Confederation in 1871,[5] as part of the agreement for the building of the transcontinental railway.
National parks were also excluded - they remain under the jurisdiction of the federal government, and are generally off-limits to resource development.
[9] However, the rights granted to Indians under treaties to hunt, trap and fish are usually considered integral to the surrender of their lands, and are therefore maintained under the Transfer Agreement.