The views of Canada's indigenous peoples on mining projects, pipelines and hydroelectric dams carry increasing weight in the decision-making process. Last month, after almost 40 years, the National Energy Board finally approved the Mackenzie gas project in the Northwest Territories (albeit subject to some 264 conditions).
The project, worth C$16.2bn ($16.4bn), was originally launched in the early 1970s but was shelved in 1977 in the face of opposition from indigenous peoples living in the Mackenzie valley. Only after years of consultation and negotiations with local communities has it come to fruition.
The demands of native Americans, and their right to be consulted on the impact of such projects on their traditional way of life, are now an important factor. To gain acceptance for the Mackenzie scheme, Imperial Oil, Exxon, Shell and ConocoPhillips made the Aboriginal Pipeline Group a partner in the venture, with a one-third stake in the project.
The aim is to exploit three natural gasfields and build a pipeline 1,196km long. The federal government has allocated $500m over 10 years to compensate for the project's socio-economic impacts. The Mackenzie valley scheme highlights the extent to which government and business must make allowance for indigenous peoples when planning major projects on land the First Nations consider their own.
Taseko Mines Ltd discovered this to its cost, when it tried to exploit one of Canada's largest gold and copper reserves, 250km north of Vancouver. Yielding to pressure from the Tsilhqot'in nation, the federal government rejected the Prosperity project in November on account of its "adverse environmental effects".
In the course of the public inquiry the community stressed its opposition to the draining of a lake (home to 90,000 wild trout) and mining of spiritually and culturally important land. "It was a landmark victory. We are not against industrial development on our land, but not at any price," said Jody Wilson-Raybould, the regional chief of the British Columbia Assembly of First Nations.
First Nations and environmental groups also countered plans by the Enbridge energy conglomerate to build the Northern Gateway pipeline, which involved building a $4.5bn terminal at Kitimat, in British Columbia, and a 1,172km pipeline to carry oil extracted from the tar sands of Alberta.
"We will never support the Enbridge project and we will never support a project that has the potential to destroy our way of life," said Chief Councillor Marilyn Slett of the Heiltsuk nation, drawing attention to the risk of oil spills associated with increased tanker traffic off the west coast. At the beginning of December representatives of 61 First Nations demonstrated in Vancouver to "protect our rivers from Enbridge oil". Wilson-Raybould said that was what happened when industry tried to push through projects with a significant impact on indigenous peoples.
The James Bay and Northern Quebec agreement of 1975, designed to allow the development of hydropower in the region, was a turning point, according to Ghislain Picard, the regional chief of the Assembly of First Nations of Quebec and Labrador. The agreement became a benchmark for recognition of indigenous people's land rights in other parts of Canada.
In 2004 and 2005 the federal supreme court made it compulsory to consult indigenous peoples. "All that is needed to be entitled [to consultation] is a credible claim to territorial rights," says Sébastien Grammond of Ottawa University. "There must be a proper consultation process, addressing all the upstream issues in project implementation."
The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which Canada has just ratified, emphasises their right to be consulted.
To further the process, Shawn A-in-chut Atleo, the national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, has announced plans to invite aboriginal representatives from across North America to a forum in June 2011 on their participation in economic development projects. Governments and industry will be invited too, "in a spirit of respect and partnership".
This story first appeared in Le Monde