ID: 1673
Presenting Author: Felicitas Egunyu
Session: 552 - Accelerating with Integrity: Strengthening Social Impact Assessment in the face of urgency and misinformation
Status: pending
Enhancing the capacity of mining host communities to engage in the assessment of social impacts especially within the context of fast-tracking projects under Canada's Bill C-5.
British Columbia, Canada, is a leading producer of minerals including copper, molybdenum, steel-making coal, and silver, with 27 operating mines contributing billions of dollars annually to the provincial economy. However, recent legislative efforts to fast-track mining projects—such as Canada’s Bill C-5 and British Columbia’s mining strategy—have drawn criticism that they bypass key phases of the federal Impact Assessment Act, limit Indigenous and public input, and neglect health considerations. As British Columbia works to spur economic growth, mining host communities should strengthen their capacity – outside government and industry – to understand and participate in the assessment of social impacts of past, current, and future mines. The accelerated fast-tracking of mining approvals places increasing responsibility on local communities to identify potential risks of proposed projects. To ask the right questions requires a broad understanding of both socio-economic and biophysical risks. Rural, remote and Indigenous communities face a profound capacity imbalance when negotiating with governments and developers during the assessment of proposed mining projects. To secure fair and equitable agreements with mining proponents, communities need guidance on how to assess potential impacts on community social sustainability. The purpose of our research project is to work with communities to assess the impacts of legacy mines and to co-create a tool to enhance their participation in social impact assessment of proposed mining projects. We will share our initial findings.
Felicitas is an Assistant Professor at the University of Waterloo who conducts research on the assessment of social impacts.
Coauthor 1: John Boakye-Danquah
Coauthor 2: Paivi Abernethy
Coauthor 3: Kobby Awuah