Abstract Manager

Through the various regulatory instrument renovations, people have said that approaches to impact assessment rely too heavily on Western worldviews and do not sufficiently consider Indigenous worldviews including historical stewardship /sustainability as well as perspectives on environment and socioeconomic issues. Many comments received from Indigenous communities support the fact that the Crown should encourage an Indigenous-led process to determine the scope, legislative basis, and mechanisms for a fully collaborative assessment. This would allow for shared jurisdictional authority and governance between Indigenous Nations and the Crown, thereby reflecting Canada’s commitment to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Although initiated by the Crown, Indigenous governments must be encouraged to develop their own assessment processes in accordance with their own laws, traditional practices, and systems of governance.

Canada’s Impact Assessment Act (IAA, 2019) and British Columbia’s Environmental Assessment Act (EAA, 2019) made some headway into how we measure a proposed project’s impacts. Both Acts include provisions that provide for Indigenous-led impact assessments, to varying degrees. An Indigenous-led Impact Assessment is meant to be a process designed and conducted by Indigenous governments for evaluating impacts of a proposed development. Impacts are assessed according to the values, concerns and priorities, and reflect the unique locations, histories, natural resource issues, governance systems and place-based knowledge of the people concerned (Nishima-Miller and Hanna, 2022. Indigenous-Led Impact Assessment, An Introduction. UBC and CEAR – Centre for Environmental Assessment Research). Our recent experience with one project in British Columbia is an example of how to frame an Indigenous-led Assessment to best reflect a Nation’s cultural values, relationships with the land and overall Rights and Title whilst assessing project development in their Traditional Territory.

Teck Resources Limited, through Teck Highland Valley Copper (HVC) operates the HVC Mine (open pit copper and molybdenum) located approximately 75 km southwest of Kamloops, BC within the traditional territory of the Nłeʔkepmx Nation, to which the Lower Nicola Indian Band (LNIB) belongs. Mining began at the HVC Mine in 1961 with the life of mine (LOM) plan permitted to 2028. Teck HVC is proposing to extend the LOM to 2040 or beyond by mining approximately 900 million tonnes of additional ore. The Highland Valley is a significant area for Indigenous People who have historically occupied the area and continue to use the area today for traditional activities including hunting, fishing, gathering and for ceremonial and spiritual purposes. Both the existing HVC mine and the proposed extension generate significant environmental changes which directly or indirectly affect aspects of Indigenous culture. Ausenco was retained by LNIB to provide a detailed holistic assessment of potential mining and Project effects on LNIB’s constitutionally protected Rights and Title with a particular focus on the loss of integrity of the sites, resources and connections. Ausenco is also providing regulatory, technical and engagement review and support to LNIB with respect to the Project Application.

Through advancing the process of Indigenous-led Impact Assessments, we can learn from thinking outside the box of the usual impact assessment process and connect to a growing international movement to recognize the rights of Indigenous peoples articulated by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in order to reach Free, Prior and Informed Consent.