ID: 1594
Presenting Author: Tara Joly
Session: 710 - Indigenous Rights in Impact Assessments: Understanding Impacts Using Gender Based Analysis Plus and UNDRIP
Status: pending
Indigenous rights are often ignored in oil sands EIA follow-up, leading to poor monitoring and transparency. I introduce a co-developed, rights-based methodology to audit and implement commitments.
Most analyses of Indigenous rights-based assessment focus on the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) development phase, often neglecting the critical follow-up that comes after project approval. Although Canada’s Impact Assessment Act (2019) mandates EIA follow-up programs and aims to increase opportunities for Indigenous participation throughout the project lifecycle, follow-up in the Athabasca oil sands region often fail to adequately center Indigenous rights and ways of knowing. This oversight leads to flawed, incomplete environmental monitoring and a lack of transparency on compliance breaches. Examples include a lack of public disclosure regarding the Imperial tailings spill in 2022-3, and findings from The Narwhal's 2024 investigation into undisclosed regulation violations by 16 oil sands companies).
This research responds to a need articulated by EIA practitioners and Indigenous communities: to develop a systematic method for tracking rights-related commitments and assessing their implementation during a project's follow-up phase. In this talk, I introduce a co-developed methodology for auditing EIA follow-up programs through an Indigenous rights lens. Designed through literature review, preliminary scoping, and input from Indigenous partners and practitioners, this framework aims to be rigorous, culturally appropriate, and community-led. My goal is to help practitioners move from the theoretical promise of Indigenous participation to the practical, rights-based implementation in EIA follow-up practices.
Tara Joly, PhD, is an environmental anthropologist specializing in Indigenous environmental monitoring and impact assessment with Indigenous Nations in northwestern Canada.