it is even misleading to suggest that the elected band councils have jurisdiction over the reserve lands.

these institutions are a product of the indian act, and are strictly colonial entities. they're funded entirely by the state, so it should be of no surprise that they tend to do what the state says. and, there are in fact massive issues with corruption.

so, the way this works is that the pipeline company asks the colonial body for approval, and then receives it. it then takes that to the court and claims there was consultation. but, the body never represented the indigenous people in the first place, so it only qualifies as consultation if you never intended to consult.

the question of representation is of course difficult. but, these tribes are so small that the councils are essentially extended family meetings. it's not like you have some aloof king ruling over an oppressed mass of people - the kinship is so tight they're operating at a clan level.

if you accept that these lands are unceded, then the parliament has no authority over them, which means the indian act has no force and the band councils are themselves merely a fantastical mechanism by a foreign state to enforce it's will from a distance - they have no more jurisdiction than the courts do, and no more legitimacy than the canadian parliament does.