http://www.timminspress.com/2016/09/25/timmins-chamber-of-commerce-wants-clarity-for-relationship-between-private-sector-and-first-nations
By Alan S. Hale, The Daily Press
Sunday, September 25, 2016 8:27:50 EDT PM
Two policy positions proposed by the Timmins Chamber of Commerce to be added to the Canadian Chamber of Commerce's federal lobbying efforts passed with the near-unanimous support of delegates at a national conference held in Regina this past weekend.
The issues the Timmins Chamber wants the federal government to be pressured to address are climate change's impact on the winter roads system, and clarifying what exactly is expected of private companies when it comes to dealing with First Nations.
Manager of policy, Nick Stewart, was one of two chamber of commerce employees to travel to Saskatchewan to pitch the policy positions to other delegates – who voted to approve both proposals with 98% in favour.
“There were 140 chambers from across Canada on hand,” said Stewart. “We're convinced that these policies are not just good for us, they're good for everyone from Red Deer to Fredericton ... There are a lot of issues specific to Northern Ontario that we would love to push at the federal level, but if you can't translate that to some broader national impact, you're not going to get any support at all.”
The first is to push the government to look more closely into what climate change will mean for winter road systems across Canada. Many remote communities depend on ice roads to allow ground access to the wider world in the winter, including communities along the James Bay coast.
But its not just communities that need these roads, said Stewart, companies operating in northern regions depend on them too.
“De Beers is a great example. You have this billion-dollar operation in our back yard that affects lots of communities. It's about time that the federal government sits down and takes a look at this because we hear anecdotally from these communities and businesses that climate change is keeping these roads closed into January and February in some year,” he said. “The government needs to make this a priority.”
The second, perhaps much more complicated, issue the Timmins added to the national chamber's lobbying priorities is getting the federal government to clarify for the private sector exactly what is expected of them when they are negotiating with First Nations.
Companies have been largely left to navigate this issue without any real guidance, said Stewart, and the issue become murkier and murkier as time goes on.
Under the Canadian constitution, First Nations have a right to be consulted about projects and decisions that affect them. But Stewart points out that this is now complicated by the fact that the government has not embraced the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which states that First Nations must give their consent to anything that will affect their way of life before it can go ahead.
De Beers found out the hard way this month that even when it said that it would not proceed with one of its proposed projects without First Nations consent, it sparked a backlash from leaders in Attawapiskat.
Stewart argued that despite how complicated as the issue is and how quickly expectations on companies are changing, the federal government has a duty to establish some kind of playing field where everyone knows what the rules are.
“Especially now that the government has made a commitment under the UN declaration, it means if choose to apply it in the way the said they would, it's going to have a very real impact on the duty consult,” said Stewart. “There is a very real role for the government to play, especially when there is so much ambiguity in the system ... The government needs to say this is what this translates to.' We can't just leave it up in their air.”
