ID: 2115
Presenting Author: Martin Whitney
Session: 519 - Perspectives on assessing cumulative impacts in the Global South
Status: pending
Based on the Indigenous Advisory and Monitoring Committee approach, we discuss how community-led monitoring leads to better outcomes, advances rights and improves the overall regulatory process.
This presentation reflects on the experiences of the Indigenous Advisory and Monitoring Committee of the Trans Mountain Expansion Project (IAMC-TMX) - a governance framework jointly designed by Indigenous and federal co-chairs, with community representatives and federal officials supported by Natural Resources Canada and the Canada Energy Regulator. The model formalizes Indigenous involvement in post-approval oversight as a multistakeholder impact management method and IA decolonization strategy. Since 2017 the Indigenous Monitoring Program provides the opportunity for 129 communities to train Qualified Indigenous Monitors to collaborate with federal regulators on compliance verification, environmental protection, safety, and compliance towards national and international legal requirements, bridging Indigenous knowledge with technical regulation.
The IAMC-TMX approach advances impact assessment follow-up by integrating Indigenous worldviews into compliance verification, building joint accountability, and providing feedback that informs adaptive practices and reconciliation-based governance, both at the project and national levels. Involving Indigenous peoples in follow-up enhances monitoring confidence, deepens understanding of impacts on Indigenous rights, and improves mitigation effectiveness. We reflect on how Indigenous-led monitoring transforms impact assessment follow-up from compliance into regulatory excellence that maintains ecological integrity, fosters empowerment, operationalizes reconciliation, and supports Indigenous self-determination.
As part of the IAMC-TMX, Martin trains Indigenous monitors in impact assessment and management, and informs to government-to-government meetings and committees on rebuilding communities trust in IA.
Coauthor 1: Philippe Hanna