NEGOTIATION
WAVEBREAKMEDIA / SHUTTERSTOCK . COM
In 2015 , the Lax Kw ’ alaams First Nation in B . C . rejected a billion-dollar offer from the Petronas energy company to build the $ 30-billion Pacific NorthWest LNG terminal on their land – a deal that would have represented more than $ 250,000 for every member of the band . ( The project is still under consideration .)
In early 2016 , the De Beers diamond company stopped work on Ontario ’ s only diamond mine , the Tango extension , after protests from members of the local Attawapiskat First Nation .
The public resistance to Site C , a $ 9-billion hydroelectricity project on British Columbia ’ s Peace River , has been strong enough to have a chilling effect on other projects ; last May , Northland Power withdrew two major wind farm projects from the environmental approval process ; both had been on hold pending decisions about Site C .
It doesn ’ t take a public policy expert to see how important it is to win community approval for large-scale resource development projects . Doing it wrong can waste enormous investments in time , money and brand reputation . However , there aren ’ t many guidelines for approaching this kind of community consultation .
To address this , in December 2015 , the C . D . Howe Institute published a report titled From “ Social Licence ” to “ Social Partnership ”: Promoting Shared Interests for Resource and Infrastructure Development . Its authors , Dr . Geoffrey Hale and Dr . Yale D . Belanger , both of the Department of Political Science at the University of Lethbridge , identify best practices for successful community engagement around these types of projects .
The researchers examined numerous examples of multi-stakeholder groups and networks , sometimes called synergy groups .
“ The terms vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction ; the objective is to bring all those who have an ongoing involvement with the impact of particular projects together ,” said Hale .
“ Where the multi-stakeholder group has ongoing value is after the project is approved , and you need someone to keep talking over the medium-to-long haul . It is possible that municipal councils or officials can deal with these things , but in many cases , we have projects that cut across jurisdictional lines ,” he said . Multi-stakeholder groups represent proponents and communities within an entire watershed or airshed , while “ corridor coalitions ” connect those concerned with infrastructure projects extending across jurisdictions , like railroads or pipelines .
“ What we are seeing with the energy sector is the kind of requirement for accommodation and adaptation that the development sector has been seeing for a number of decades ,” said Hale , pointing to “ a need to view the process not as adversarial , but as an ongoing engagement of relevant stakeholders , including communities , municipalities , governments and a
MUNICIPAL MONITOR 13