Final report submitted under the SSHRC
Knowledge Synthesis Program (version française disponible)

Bonnie Campbell and Marie-Claude Prémont
With the assistance of Gabrielle Joyce Lupien and Andréanne Martel

SUMMARY
This knowledge synthesis report produced with the support of a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council covers two key sectors of natural resource exploitation in Canada, mining and the generation of power from renewable sources, namely hydroelectricity and wind energy, to provide a better understanding of the ongoing transformations in governance in these sectors. It seeks to clarify the main governance issues raised by the extraction of these natural resources, as reported and analyzed in the social science literature, particularly in the fields of law and political economy.

Mining and the installation of hydroelectric and wind energy infrastructure both "consume” a lot of territory and create tensions that raise questions about the manner in which the state and industry view development and public interests. Given the difficulty which the formal legal channels have in responding to social and territorial demands for participation in decision-making processes, new concepts and processes are introduced, and serve to highlight the major ongoing transformations in these two sectors, such as social acceptability, social acceptance and free, prior and informed consent, as well as an emphasis on economic benefits for affected communities.

Report

French version available