Survey praises Canadian Arctic companies for respecting indigenous rights – by Bob Weber (Canadian Press/680 News – February 10, 2017)

http://www.680news.com/

An international survey on resource development in the Arctic has ranked Canadian companies among the highest in the world for their policies on respecting indigenous rights.

A report from a member of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs says that four of the top 10 companies operating north of the Arctic Circle are Canadian. They include miners such as Teck Resources (TSX:TCK.a) and energy majors such as Imperial Oil (TSX:IMO).

“Companies operating in Canada and the U.S. do score very well,” said Indra Overland, the political scientist who heads the energy department for the institute, one of Norway’s most prominent think tanks.

Overland’s report, the result of three years of work, looks at 92 resource extraction companies operating above the Arctic Circle. “I wanted to do something that interacts with and impacts on the real world,” he said. His survey attempts to assess the internal policies and supports within various industry players.

It asked companies 20 questions about commitments to international agreements such as the International Labour Organization’s convention on the rights of indigenous people. It examined whether the company had staff devoted to handling indigenous rights and how well-qualified they were.

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