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As the mining industry is called on to respect Indigenous rights, Florence Jones speaks to Nina Fouilloux to explore the ways in which Indigenous voices can be involved in mining governance.
Last month, UN special rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous peoples, José Francisco Calí Tzay, made a special visit to Canada. As global governments and transnational organisations explore the rights of First Nations peoples, industrial groups and companies too are analysing the ways in which their operations impact local communities.
Shareholders are increasingly aware of Indigenous rights as part of a wider push towards more environmentally and socially responsible mining. The industry has a dark history associated with the treatment of land traditionally inhabited by Indigenous communities, and involvement of Indigenous communities in mining governance could be a meaningful route to partial reconciliation.
Yet some of the priorities of Indigenous groups, notably the protection of land from industrial operations, are fundamentally opposed to much of the work of the mining industry. Nina Fouilloux, community relations counsellor with Canadian mining company Agnico Eagle has a background in the study of Indigenous rights and theoretical traditions, and is uniquely-positioned to advise the Canadian mining industry on how it must better involve local communities in mining governance.
Florence Jones: What role has Canadian mining played in the lives and economies of local Indigenous peoples?
Nina Fouilloux: I believe that when responsibly undertaken, mining plays an important and positive role in supporting sustainable socioeconomic development of many First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities.
For the rest of this article: https://www.mining-technology.com/features/a-powerful-path-towards-reconciliation-how-indigenous-voices-can-be-heard-in-mining-governance/