21.17.1. To support its role in carrying out the responsibilities the Minister of Natural Resources and Wildlife may entrust it with under an Act or a specific agreement entered into under the fourth paragraph of section 21.7, a regional conference of elected officers shall create, on its own initiative or at the request of the Minister of Natural Resources and Wildlife, a regional land and natural resource commission.
The regional conference of elected officers determines the composition and operation of the commission, providing for the participation of the Native communities present in the territory it represents and a representative of the Minister of Natural Resources and Wildlife. It also finances the commission’s activities.
For the same purposes, the regional conference of elected officers establishes local integrated land and resource management panels and coordinates their work. It may entrust that responsibility to a regional land and natural resource commission or, exceptionally, ask the Minister of Natural Resources and Wildlife to entrust it to a regional county municipality that is selected jointly by that Minister and the regional conference of elected officers. A regional county municipality to which the Minister entrusts that responsibility has all the powers necessary to carry it out.