FNMPC members
A group of, currently, 49 First Nations and band councils in western and central Canada have formed a First Nation Major Projects Coalition to develop capacities related to ownership of major resource projects on their traditional lands, and to make sure environmental practices meet their needs.
The Coalition states its purposes as to
(a) Safeguard our air, land, water and medicine sources from the impacts of resource development by asserting its members’ influence and traditional laws on environmental, regulatory and negotiation processes;
(b) Receive a fair share of benefits from projects undertaken in the traditional territories of its members; and
(c) Explore ownership opportunities of projects proposed in the traditional territories of its members.
The coalition will support communities faced with a potential major project development with economic analysis, models for corporate structure and economic participation, and the like.
A December 9 story by Ian Bickis in Canadian Press says the coalition has taken on the $300-million Kenney Dam Water Release Facility in BC as its first project. The project will direct overflow water from the dam to a generation facility. The coalition’s website adds a $1 billion transmission corridor and an economic study of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion as projects it’s studying.