Greg Poelzer

Aboriginal Participation in Canadian Environmental Assessment: Gap Analysis and Directions for Scholarly Research

There has emerged in recent years an increased industry and regulatory demand for the streamlining of environmental assessment (EA), and at the same time, persistent expectations by Aboriginal communities for more effective and meaningful engagement in development decisions. This paper examines the extent to which scholarly research has contributed to solutions for meaningful Aboriginal participation amidst demands for more efficient and shorter timelines for participation and decision-making. Three research priorities are identified from our assessment of peer-reviewed EA scholarly research: the need for empirical-based research assessing the impacts of streamlining on participation and the impacts of meaningful Aboriginal participation on EA efficiencies; the need for better defined scope of issues that should be addressed inside the EA process versus those that are best addressed external to EA; and the need to develop and test alternative mechanisms for Aboriginal participation at the regional and strategic levels, and their contributions to regulatory-based EA decisions.