Extracting knowledge: Social science, environmental impact assessment, and Indigenous consultation in the oil sands of Alberta, Canada

Baker, Janelle Marie; Westman, Clinton N.

doi:10.1016/j.exis.2017.12.008

Cited by 61 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…1) and associated harms by the Canadian government. Baker and Westman (2018), for example, posited that the Chipewyan Lake EA health survey failed to capture the potential impacts of a proposed mining operation for Bigstone Cree Nation members living in the community of Chipewyan Lake, and appropriately engage their knowledge, " : : : because they [Indigenous peoples] did not trust the researchers (potential government co-conspirators) and feared The historical and continuing impacts of colonization in Canada are increasingly discussed beyond the context of federal EA and have serious implications for the use of IK in the context of assessments. The significant and continuing impacts of colonization are well-documented (Environics Research Group 2008).…”

Section: Historical Obstaclesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Indigenous knowledge and federal environmental assessments in Canada: applying past lessons to the 2019 impact assessment act

Eckert

Claxton

Owens

et al. 2020

FACETS

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Policy-makers ideally pursue well-informed, socially just means to make environmental decisions. Indigenous peoples have used Indigenous knowledge (IK) to inform decisions about environmental management for millennia. In the last 50 years, many western societies have used environmental assessment (EA) processes to deliberate on industrial proposals, informed by scientific information. Recently EA processes have attempted to incorporate IK in some countries and regions, but practitioners and scholars have criticized the ability of EA to meaningfully engage IK. Here we consider these tensions in Canada, a country with economic focus on resource extraction and unresolved government-to-government relationships with Indigenous Nations. In 2019, the Canadian government passed the Impact Assessment Act, reinvigorating dialogue on the relationship between IK and EA. Addressing this opportunity, we examined obstacles between IK and EA via a systematic literature review, and qualitative analyses of publications and the Act itself. Our results and synthesis identify obstacles preventing the Act from meaningfully engaging IK, some of which are surmountable (e.g., failures to engage best practices, financial limitations), whereas others are substantial (e.g., knowledge incompatibilities, effects of colonization). Finally, we offer recommendations for practitioners and scholars towards ameliorating relationships between IK and EA towards improved decision-making and recognition of Indigenous rights.

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Section: Historical Obstaclesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Indigenous knowledge and federal environmental assessments in Canada: applying past lessons to the 2019 impact assessment act

Eckert

Claxton

Owens

et al. 2020

FACETS

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“…Where slope stability was not optimally achieved other goals categorized under themes of 'biological', 'land-use', and 'socio-cultural' were also more likely to be unsuccessful (Baida et al 2014;. Traditional practices are inherently sustainable in their nature (Baker & Westman 2018), and are more likely to be successfully returned to when the landscape itself is stable, and hospitable to flora and fauna.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The concept that a view defines a landscape suggests that it is being inhabited or used by a person (or animal), and that there is a symbiotic exchange occurring between the user and the land as a result. While the AOS region in northern Alberta is certainly rural, it is also the location of historic migratory as well as hunting, trapping, and medicine gathering territory of indigenous Cree and Dene people (Joly et al 2018;Baker & Westman, 2018). Today Fort McKay First Nation, a community comprising five Indian reserves and a population of approximately 600, sits on the shores of the Athabasca River at the center of oil sands development in the region.…”

Section: Form As a Basis For Long-term Waste-scape Successmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They have lived off the land by hunting, fishing, gathering, and also by nurturing the local environment where possible to ensure their sustainable way of life can be continued into the future (Fort McKay website, 2017;Baker & Westman, 2018;Joly et al 2018). In recent decades, residents of Fort McKay have worked with industry towards mutually beneficial land and employment agreements (Baker & Westman, 2018). However, boombust cycles and economic dynamics occassionally leave the community at risk of low employment rates, as well as a full spectrum of positive and negative ramifications.…”

Section: Local Communitymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Enhanced Geomorphic Design for Reclamation of Rural Waste-Scapes

2018

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Many inventive concepts for the adaptive re-use of waste landscapes, or wastescapes, have been proposed and constructed in the last decade. These are often located near or within large, urban populations, which provide much of the incentive for adaptive re-use. A different challenge presents itself when a waste-scape is rurally located, near a small-though equally important-population. How do we address complex socio-cultural, economic, and environmental objectives without the economic incentive provided by a large nearby population? This project looks at the mineable oil sands region of northern Alberta, Canada: a rural waste-scape covering 895 km 2 in Canada's boreal forest. Specifically, this project discusses the geomorphology and native substrate of northern Alberta, juxtaposed with the traditional design of waste storage landforms, in order to show that there are no natural analogues in the region. A geomorphic approach to the design of waste-scapes in this region has been developed using a Landscape Evolution Model (LEM) for longterm projections, and is being tested in the region. This project sheds new light on the rarely acknowledged issue of waste design in rural areas and the wide range of benefits achieved through use of an enhanced geomorphic design approach.

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“…Scientific research results from many fields contribute to the value judgement in several ways. For example, research projects provide information regarding the preparation for and outcomes of mining and reclamation activities from environmental (Tetreault et al, 2003;Audet et al, 2014), economic (Atkins and MacFadyen, 2008;Heyes et al, 2018), and societal perspectives (Baker and Westman, 2018). This information is often used by others to support arguments both for and against utilization of this resource.…”

Section: Guidelines For Reclamation To Forest Vegetation In the Athabmentioning

confidence: 99%

Functioning of reclaimed oil sands ecosystems and the implications for reclamation certification

Strilesky¹

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Extracting knowledge: Social science, environmental impact assessment, and Indigenous consultation in the oil sands of Alberta, Canada

Cited by 61 publications

References 17 publications

Indigenous knowledge and federal environmental assessments in Canada: applying past lessons to the 2019 impact assessment act

Indigenous knowledge and federal environmental assessments in Canada: applying past lessons to the 2019 impact assessment act

Enhanced Geomorphic Design for Reclamation of Rural Waste-Scapes

Functioning of reclaimed oil sands ecosystems and the implications for reclamation certification

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