A new report says if governments and business want to successfully pursue resource development, they must “get it right” with First Nations groups.
The report, New Beginnings: How Canada’s Natural Resource Wealth Could Re-shape Relations With Aboriginal People, is co-authored by Ken Coates and Brian Lee Crowley.
Coates, who teaches at the University of Saskatchewan, says some Saskatchewan companies are already “getting it right” in terms of dealing with First Nations when pursuing resource development.
“We’ve seen a series of really interesting initiatives by Cameco and AREVA in the north, in the last little while,” he says. “Cameco has a very strong commitment to training, to job creation, to business development using northern suppliers whenever possible and using northern companies whenever appropriate.”
The report concludes First Nations communities must be properly consulted if Canadian resource development is to be successful.
Coates says companies are definitely bound by the requirement of “duty to consult and accommodate” First Nations when pursuing a resource project, but this does not necessarily mean Indigenous communities have an absolute right to nix a project.
“It’s also really important to note what consultation is not. And consultation is not a veto,” he says. “It does not mean that First Nations have the right to slow down a project that is otherwise perceived to be environmentally-appropriate and otherwise has the support of the appropriate government agencies.”
The report was released by the Macdonald-Laurier Institute.