"WE ARE FIGHTING FOR OURSELVES" — FIRST NATIONS' EVALUATION OF BRITISH COLUMBIA AND CANADIAN ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT PROCESSES

Annie Booth () and Norm W. Skelton
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Annie Booth: Ecosystem Science and Management Program, University of Northern British Columbia, 3333 University Way, Prince George, BC V2N 4Z9, Canada
Norm W. Skelton: Ecosystem Science and Management Program, University of Northern British Columbia, 3333 University Way, Prince George, BC V2N 4Z9, Canada

Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy and Management (JEAPM), 2011, vol. 13, issue 03, 367-404

Abstract: This article presents results from research into the perspectives on environmental assessments of Canadian indigenous peoples, in particular British Columbia's West Moberly First Nations, the Halfway River First Nation, and the Treaty 8 Tribal Association. This collaborative project interviewed First Nation government officials and staff as well as community members to determine their analyses of what worked and, more significantly, what did not work in engaging and consulting indigenous people. This research identified significant failings in Canadian and British Columbia environmental assessment processes, including substantive procedural failures, relational failures between First Nation, provincial and federal governments, and fundamental philosophical differences between assessment processes and indigenous worldviews. Based upon their review of environmental assessment failings, the collaborating First Nations recommend a fundamental revision of environmental assessment processes so as to protect into the future their Treaty and Aboriginal rights and to ensure their survival as distinct and viable cultures upon the land.

Keywords: First Nations; environmental assessment; consultation; British Columbia Environmental Assessment Office; Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency; Treaty 8 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
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DOI: 10.1142/S1464333211003936

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