Indigenous-led impact assessment : approaches, requirements, and degrees of control
department or school: Science, Irving K. Barber Faculty of (Okanagan)
department or school: Earth, Environmental and Geographic Sciences, Department of (Okanagan)
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCO
creator: Nishima-Miller, Jeffrey
issued: 2021-05-14T21:45:14Z
issued: 2021
related degree: Master of Arts - MA
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is a government designed approval process for large-scale natural resource activities and development projects. Throughout Canadian jurisdictions, EIA has been criticized for limiting Indigenous involvement, and failing to adequately address the concerns of project impacts on Indigenous rights and title. To overcome these difficulties, Indigenous-led impact assessment (ILIA) has emerged as a process that provides Indigenous Nations/groups with meaningful input and an increased degree of control over project assessments. This research was designed to help meet objectives defined by the Tsilhqot’in National Government (TNG), who are currently exploring how they will implement a Tsilhqot’in-specific assessment process. The Supreme Court of Canada’s landmark Tsilhqot’in title decision (William decision) has created a range of immediate management and planning needs, and new opportunities for Tsilhqot’in communities. This coincides with the 2018/2019 updates to British Columbia’s and Canada’s EIA laws, both of which provide opportunities for Indigenous Nations/groups to conduct part or all of an EIA review, which will be recognized by BC or Canada. The objectives of this research are a) identify the various ways in which Indigenous Nations/groups have chosen to implement their own assessment processes that reflect their unique locations, histories, natural resource issues and governance approaches; b) determine the information, data management and administrative support requirements, communication and decision-making tools, and funding mechanisms or needs of ILIA; and c) describe the variable degrees of control achieved through ILIA. These objectives were achieved through a literature review exploring the evolution of Indigenous participation in EIA and the emergence, opportunities, and obstacles of ILIA; and through the composition of five case studies outlining why and how select Indigenous Nations/groups in Western Canada have imp…
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/78355
note: INDIGENOUS-LED IMPACT ASSESSMENT: APPROACHES, REQUIREMENTS, AND DEGREES OF CONTROL by Jeffrey Nishima-Miller B.A., University of Victoria, 2018 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in THE COLLEGE OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Interdisciplinary Studies) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Okanagan) April 2021 © Jeffrey Nishima-Miller, 2021 ii The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the College of Graduate Studies for acceptance, a thesis/dissertation entitled: Indigenous-led Impact Assessment: Approaches, Requirements, and Degrees of Control submitted by Jeffrey Nishima-Miller in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Arts. Dr. Kevin Hanna Supervisor Dr. Donna Sense Supervisory Committee Member Dr. Jocelyn Stacey Supervisory Committee Member Dr. William Nikolakis Supervisory Committee Member Dr. Adam Ford University Examiner iii Abstract Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is a government designed approval process for large-scale natural resource activities and development projects. Throughout Canadian jurisdictions, EIA has been criticized for limiting Indigenous involvement, and failing to adequately address the concerns of project impacts on Indigenous rights and title. To overcome these difficulties, Indigenous-led impact assessment (ILIA) has emerged as a process that provides Indigenous Nations/groups with meaningful input and an increased degree of control over project assessments. This research was designed to help meet objectives defined by the Tsilhqot’in National Government (TNG), who are currently exploring how they will implement a Tsilhqot’in-specific assessment process. The Supreme Court of Canada’s landmark Tsilhqot’in title decision (William decision) has created a range of immediate management and planning needs, and new opportunities for Tsilhqot’in communities. This coincides with the 2018/2019 updates to British Columbia’s and Canada’s E…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2021-09
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0397493
language: eng
degree discipline: Interdisciplinary Studies
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
contributor: Hanna, Kevin
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/78355