Is your Indigenous community/government struggling to figure out the full scope of mining projects in your territory lately? Are you having trouble following the many small permits that add up to an approval for those projects to move ahead or expand? The new Impact Assessment Act was passed in August 2019, and with it, fewer mining activities which trigger a “full” federal EA. In its place, Indigenous governments are now often left with a harder-to-follow consultation process about smaller environmental permits which move a mine project ahead in pieces. We call this “spotting the elephant”. Our panel will explore the implications of these changes for Indigenous governments and their communities, and ways the mining industry and the Crown can continue to ensure a meaningful consultation process and create the conditions for free, prior, and informed consent.

Chair: Kenning Marchant, The Marchant Practice, Mississauga, Canada