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OTTAWA — The Canadian Press – Canada’s aboriginal communities have found a powerful ally in their bid to be treated as equal partners in the discussion about tapping the country’s natural-resource wealth.
Big business wants them at the negotiating table, and is urging the federal and provincial governments to lend a helping hand.
A new report due Monday from the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, prepared for Canada’s premiers in advance of their meeting later this month, urges governments to make aboriginal communities full partners in developing energy and mining projects.
Governments should help train a growing aboriginal workforce and develop new ways to support aboriginal communities so that they can participate vigorously in business initiatives and negotiations to share the wealth, says the report, a copy of which was obtained by The Canadian Press.
And the stakes are high: the viability of billions of dollars in natural resource investment, said John Manley, the council’s chief executive.
“You have to find a negotiation arrangement where everybody benefits. The problem from the business side is more one of predictability of process,” Mr. Manley said in an interview.
For corporations, which look at potential projects from a cost-benefit perspective, the downside of not having all interested parties on board and pulling in the same direction quickly becomes insurmountable, he said.
“Can you look at this, and construct a road map to completion within a reasonable period of time?“’ Mr. Manley said.
“Because if you can’t get there in a reasonable period of time, or if you can’t figure out how you are going to manage all of the different and contradictory interests, the odds are, your capital will be better deployed elsewhere.”
The federal government recently passed into law fundamental changes to environmental assessment and the Fisheries Act, in an attempt to speed up the approvals process for natural resource development.
At the same time, Ottawa put an extra $13.6-million into supporting aboriginal participation in environmental assessments — an acknowledgment that first nations demands must be dealt with in order for many projects to proceed.
But first nations are appalled at the changes to environmental assessment and fisheries, saying they will erode federal oversight of the land and weaken aboriginal say in how natural resources are developed.
Plus, many first nations oppose the Northern Gateway pipeline and are speaking up to demand larger roles in mining and hydro developments in other parts of the country too.
Sharing resource revenues is likely to be a key theme at the Assembly of First Nations annual meetings this week in Toronto, with chiefs comparing notes on how aboriginal communities can speak with a more powerful voice.
The development of the Victor diamond mine in northern Ontario is instructive.
Diamond giant De Beers negotiated for years with the Attawapiskat First Nation to determine benefits for the local population stemming from the company’s nearby project.
For the rest of this article, please go to the Globe and Mail website: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ceos-urge-governments-to-promote-native-input-in-natural-resource-projects/article4417777/?cmpid=rss1