Share:
Work with the AFN

Unified Legal & Policy Analysis Framework: Federal Regulatory Reforms, Major Projects, Inherent Jurisdiction, and Regulatory Dynamics in Canada

Introduction

The Assembly of First Nations (AFN) is the national representative organization of First Nations people in Canada. The AFN represents and advocates First Nations interests for more than 600 First Nations from across the country.

The Government of Canada has initiated significant structural, legislative, and policy reforms affecting Indigenous jurisdiction, environmental assessment, regulatory permitting, and community membership across Canada. This RFP responds to three interconnected developments: federal major project regulatory reforms, the transition of First Nations citizenship and membership beyond the Indian Act, and cannabis jurisdiction, enforcement, and financial integrity risks. 

The Assembly of First Nations seeks proposals from qualified legal firms and research groups (“Proponents”) to conduct a comprehensive legal review, strategic risk analysis, policy formulation exercise, and operational preparedness roadmap addressing these three interconnected areas of law. 

Objective

The selected legal counsel will provide strategic advice, legal analysis, and actionable deliverables structured around three core focus areas.

Federal Major Project Regulatory Reforms. Twin federal discussion papers—Getting Major Projects Built in Canada and Strengthening One Canadian Economy through Trade and Transportation—building upon the framework introduced by the Building Canada Act (2025), signal a significant shift in federal environmental and impact assessments, Crown consultation, and regulatory permitting. 

Although framed as a means to reduce consultation fatigue, compressed timelines, Federal Economic Zones (FEZs), a consolidated “One Project Decision,” and a centralized Crown Consultation Hub may create significant risks of bypassing meaningful consultation, infringing Inherent and Treaty Rights, and failing to uphold the Honour of the Crown and fiduciary obligations. 

Transitioning Citizenship and Membership Beyond the Indian Act. Following the introduction of Bill S-2, An Act to amend the Indian Act (new registration entitlements), and related parliamentary committee proceedings, federal commitments have been made to introduce standalone legislation on citizenship and membership outside the statutory constraints of the Indian Act. This creates a critical need to evaluate Bill S-2 and potential transition toward an inherent-rights-based citizenship model aligned with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (UNDA/UNDRIP). 

Cannabis Jurisdiction, Enforcement, and Financial Integrity. Since the coming into force of the Cannabis Act (S.C. 2018, c. 16), persistent jurisdictional friction has arisen concerning non-provincially licensed dispensaries operating under Band by-laws or inherent rights frameworks, provincial and RCMP enforcement actions, and complex money laundering and proceeds of crime concerns under POCA and FINTRAC compliance regimes.

Scope of Work

Scope Area 1: Federal Major Project Reforms & Consultation Mechanics 

  • Consolidated Single Decision Mechanism:Assess the legal mechanics of the proposed “One Project Decision” issued by the Minister of Environment, Climate Change, and Nature for projects under the Physical Activities Regulations, including appellate and judicial review avenues where components of a consolidated decision are flawed. 
  • Jurisdictional Realignment & Lifecycle Regulators:Review the legal implications of transferring sole project authority to lifecycle regulators, including the Canada Energy Regulator and Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, and assess whether independent regulators have the constitutional authority and capacity to assess and accommodate Section 35 rights. 
  • Federal Economic Zones & Pre-Approvals:Evaluate constitutional and administrative law risks associated with FEZs and Cabinet pre-approval powers, including interactions with provincial regimes, vulnerability to judicial review, and cumulative impacts on Treaty rights. 
  • Crown Consultation Hub Strategy & UNDRIP Alignment:Map out the operational impacts of the new centralized Crown Consultation Hub within the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada (IAAC). Analyze how this consolidated hub aligns with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (UNDA), Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC), and potential litigation risks concerning the “Honour of the Crown”. Assess how a “one-window” approach handles unique, community-specific Treaty rights. Determine if the Hub’s mandate to “resolve or mitigate issues early” unlawfully delegates the Crown’s constitutional fiduciary duties or dilutes the depth of consultation required for high-impact projects. Analyze proposals allowing “early construction activities” before full impact statements are finalized. Provide a legal assessment of how early ground disturbance compromises the Honour of the Crown, prejudices final decisions, and infringes on the right to protect cultural heritage and biophysical integrity. 
  • Streamlined Regulatory Environment & Early Construction:Assess Fisheries Act and Canadian Navigable Waters Act amendments, including habitat offsetting flexibilities, narrowed permit scopes, and legal risks of allowing early construction activities before full impact statements are finalized.  

Scope Area 2: First Nations Citizenship & Statutory Transition 

  • Bill S-2 & Legislative Analysis:Perform a comparative legal analysis of Bill S-2 as introduced and as amended through parliamentary committee proceedings, including proposed changes to Section 6(2), a one-parent rule, voluntary deregistration, natal band reaffiliation, and modernization of statutory language. 
  • Constitutional & Policy Frameworks:Evaluate alignment with Section 15 Charter rights, Section 35 Aboriginal rights, and UNDRIP Articles 9 and 33, and formulate options for transitioning from state-administered Indian status to community-controlled First Nation citizenship. 
  • Draft Policy Framework:Draft policy positions, and legal frameworks addressing First Nations Citizenship Codes that operationalize inherent jurisdiction while mitigating Charter and human rights risks. 

Scope Area 3: Cannabis Regulation, Enforcement Dynamics, and Financial Integrity  

  • Jurisdictional & Regulatory Dynamics:Analyze Section 35 Aboriginal rights, inherent governance rights, and customary laws as applied to the regulation, licensing, and sale of cannabis on reserve, including overlap among the federal Cannabis Act, provincial retail legislation, First Nation Land Codes, and Band by-laws under sections 81 and 83 of the Indian Act. 
  • Enforcement Mechanisms & Civil/Criminal Exposure:Examine enforceability of First Nation-issued cannabis licenses by First Nation Police Services, RCMP, and municipal/provincial police forces, and review civil remedies, administrative search and seizure powers, on-reserve enforcement precedents, and transport risks. 
  • Financial Integrity, FINTRAC & Proceeds of Crime:Analyze criminal liability under Criminal Code for commercial entities, financial institutions, and governance bodies interacting with non-provincially licensed operations, including Anti-Money Laundering obligations, FINTRAC reporting thresholds, banking access, de-risking, and community tax regimes. 
  • Risk & Future Pathways:Map liability levels for key stakeholders and provide options for legal reform, government-to-government negotiation models, and strategic advocacy approaches. 

Proposal Submission Instructions

All proposals shall be received by electronic mail (email) to the AFN at [email protected] no later than September 4th.

All proposals will clearly identify the name of the proponent and the note “RFP for Unified Legal & Policy Analysis Framework: Federal Regulatory Reforms, Major Projects, Inherent Jurisdiction, and Regulatory Dynamics in Canada” in the subject line.

Late submissions will not be accepted and will be returned by electronic mail (email). 

Since bids must be submitted by electronic delivery (email), submissions by mail or courier will not be accepted.

PROPOSAL SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

All proposals shall include the following information:

  1. An Executive Summary outlining the background information of the proponent’s company, including contents of the proposal.
  2. Qualifications: provide a description of the proponent’s capabilities/experience specifically related to this Request for Proposals.
  3. A statement and description of the physical and human resources required to complete the project including software and intellectual material; Detailed strategy explaining how the firm will execute the scope of work, monitor legislative tabling, analyze statutory overlaps, and develop operational risk-mitigation tools.
  4. Project Organization: Identify the composition of the proposed project team, if any, including:
    1. Project team members;
    2. Description of the roles of the team members
    3. Level of experience of the team members specific to Canadian environmental law, administrative law, regulatory permitting, Section 35 litigation, Indian Act status and membership, custom citizenship codes, inherent rights frameworks, cannabis regulatory compliance, corporate/commercial law, financial crimes, and AML/FINTRAC compliance.
  5. Client References: the names of three (3) references which have used the services of the bidder. References to include the client name, title, contact information.
  6. Cost Breakdown: The Proponent shall provide a detailed cost breakdown for the proposed services, showing the total cost for the performance of all services, expenses, materials, deliverables, and software/hardware costs (if applicable), to be used for completion of the work. Total cost shall be in Canadian dollars and inclusive of HST.

Rights of the AFN

The AFN reserves the right to:

  1. reject any or all proposals received in response to this Request for Proposals;
  2. enter into negotiation with one or more Consultants on any or all aspects of their respective proposals;
  3. accept any proposal in whole, or in part;
  4. cancel and/or re-issue the modified version of a given RFP requirement at any time;
  5. award one or more contracts;
  6. verify all information provided with respect to a given RFP requirement, including the right to request a confirmation of the Consultant’s legal status and signed documentation; and
  7. award contracts without competition for follow-up work, if any, to the selected Consultant for a given project requirement.

The principles under which all AFN projects and processes operate are:

  • Respect for First Nations inherent rights, jurisdiction and Treaty and Aboriginal rights
  • Ownership, Control, Access and Possession (OCAP)
  • All mandates are provided exclusively by Annual General Assembly and Special Chiefs Assembly resolutions
  • Transparency to First Nations
  • Accountability to all Chiefs
  • AFN policies

Evaluation Criteria

The AFN will select the Proponent(s) which, in the AFN’s sole discretion, best serves the overall needs of the AFN. The following is a summary of the general considerations that will be used to determine the Proponent(s) that will be selected:

Expertise of Firm/Organization submitting the proposal 20
Experience in working with First Nations 20
Proposed Work Plan and Approach 20
Experience specific to Canadian environmental law, administrative law, regulatory permitting, Section 35 litigation, Indian Act status and membership, custom citizenship codes, inherent rights frameworks, cannabis regulatory compliance, corporate/commercial law, financial crimes, and AML/FINTRAC compliance. 15
Total price 25

Timetable

Description of Deliverables Due Date
1. The following dates are set forth for informational and planning purposes and may be changed at the AFN’s sole discretion. Date TBD
2. RFP Released/Advertised/Posted Aug 21, 2026
3. Deadline for questions Aug 28, 2026
4. Deadline for submission of proposals Sep 04, 2026
5. Completion of proposal evaluations Sep 11, 2026
6. Finalist Interviews (if required) Sep 15, 2026
7. Final Selection Sep 18, 2026
8. Contract Start Date Sep 21, 2026

The timetable is tentative only and may be changed by the AFN, in its sole discretion, at any time prior to the Proposal Submission Deadline.

Miscellaneous Provisions

Price

Contractors must provide a firm fixed price, including administrative fees, travel, material costs, translation, printing of draft concepts and HST.

Confidentiality

Responses to this RFP will be considered as confidential information by the AFN and will be used solely for the purposes of selecting the successful bidder.

Clarification/Questions

Only those submissions that meet the deadline will be considered.
Responses to this RFP must be received by electronic mail (email) by the close of business (5:00 pm EST) September 4, 2026.
All proposals will be acknowledged.
Requests for clarification and/or questions regarding this RFP should be directed to:
Kyrie Tristary, Lead Senior Director
Assembly of First Nations
Telephone: (613) 241-6789
Electronic Mail: [email protected]

To top