An ELI Public Webinar
The past several decades have witnessed a tidal wave of Indigenous activism around the world, battling the legacy of colonialism and also the exploitation of natural resources. Indigenous peoples are calling on states to acknowledge their sovereignty and engage in good-faith consultation when making environmental decisions that could impact their lands, resources, heritage, or way of life.
This signals a shift toward recognition of a procedural right to government-to-government consultation. However, many Indigenous and environmental activists claim that actual implementation of these principles falls short of meaningful consultation, amounting to little more than checking a box. Federal and local governments, in turn, are discussing ways to improve consultation that occurs early in the process, engages Indigenous communities as partners, and incorporates Indigenous priorities, perspectives, and science into their decision-making. The United States, Canada, and Colombia provide three distinct case studies of Indigenous and federal consultation, each set within its own historical and cultural context.
Join the Environmental Law Institute and expert panelists as they compare the experiences of Tribes, First Nations, and other Indigenous peoples in the United States, Canada, and Colombia. Leading panelists explore examples of Indigenous input in environmental decision-making and the substantive questions at the intersection of sovereignty and environmental justice.
Panelists:
Cynthia R. Harris, Director, Tribal Programs; Deputy Director, Center for State, Tribal, and Local Environmental Programming; and Staff Attorney, Environmental Law Institute, Moderator
Wesley James Furlong, Staff Attorney, Native American Rights Fund
Robert Hamilton, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Calgary
Joshua Nichols, Ph.D., Assistance Professor of Law, University of Alberta
Materials:
ELI members will have subsequent access to any materials/a recording of this session (usually posted w/in 48 hours). If you are not an ELI member but would like to have access to archived sessions like this one, go HERE to see the many benefits of membership and how to join.