Increasingly in the Canadian North, developers engage in two parallel processes
with no formal connection: the preparation of environmental assessments for public
regulatory review; and the establishment of private negotiated agreements with
Aboriginal communities. This uncoordinated system frustrates developers, communities,
and regulators. While some assert that the public has no right to be concerned with
private agreements, environmental assessments are conducted assuming these agreements
will be signed. Indeed, overlap exists and some of it is problematic. For instance, some
decision-makers interpret signed negotiated agreements as landowner ‘consent’ and look
for signed agreements before issuing approvals. Opportunities, however, exist to improve
this situation through use of integrative and iterative processes (whereby outputs from
one inform the other) featuring more flexible timing and greater government involvement
in the determination of select benefits. While such a system may maximise the public
good, it is unclear if it will satisfy industry and Aboriginal stakeholders.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BRC.10170/132 |
| Date | 30 November 2009 |
| Creators | Lukas-Amulung, Sandra |
| Contributors | Bradshaw, Ben |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Detected Language | English |
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