The emergence of an international Indigenous rights regime is a matter of both national and international importance. Understanding Indigenous territorial rights within the context of an international rights regime, and the Indigenous world views to which these rights are linked, will be essential for Canadian development interests and the long standing goal of reconciliation with Aboriginal peoples in Canada. International Indigenous rights recognition, Canada’s declared goal of reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, and national dependence on resource extraction necessitate the development of a new intercultural understanding of land and resource use, along with a refined and practical understanding of the meaning, application, and enforcement of domestic legal frameworks of consultation in keeping with Section 35 of the Canadian constitution and international standards of free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC).
There is an opportunity for CIGI to address one of the world’s most challenging governance issues and to advance research on the development of best practices through case studies on intercultural process of consultation and free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) in resource extraction in Canada and globally. A roundtable involving Indigenous leaders and scholars, and other scholars working in the area, will be convened to discuss the concept, design, and feasibility of an Indigenous rights and resource governance stream at CIGI. Participants will discuss the nature and focus of a research program which would address the gap between domestic legal environments, emerging international Indigenous rights frameworks, and resource governance challenges, both nationally and globally.