Indigenous-led EAs are on the horizon – by Alisha Hiyate (Northern Miner – October 28, 2022)

https://www.northernminer.com/

At the recent Indigenous Led Projects Forum in Toronto in late September — the first event of its kind — co-host Michael Fox shared some of the big changes that he’s seen in Canada’s Indigenous communities over his lifetime.

The 54-year-old said it wasn’t until the 1980s that an Indigenous family member owned a car —¬¬ a symbol of success. Later, the high water mark was the first Indigenous person he knew who owned their own house.

Fast forward to today, and Fox, the founder and president of consultancy Indigenous Community Engagement (ICE), and co-chair of PDAC’s Indigenous Affairs Committee, sees an entirely different level of economic possibility emerging.

“I think the new Indigenous ecosystem is about Indigenous-led environmental assessments, Indigenous-led projects, Indigenous-led economies,” he said. Fox contrasts that with historic public policy, which created an Indigenous ecosystem of “complete dependency by design,” and “created the socioeconomic conditions you see across Canada” in many Indigenous communities.

For the rest of this article: https://www.northernminer.com/editorial/indigenous-led-eas-are-on-the-horizon/1003847907/