Effectiveness of British Columbia's environmental assessment policy for First Nations' participation in mine development

Historically, First Nations\u2019 participation in mine development in British Columbia has been minimal. More recently, mine developments in First Nations\u2019 traditional territories have created conflict between mine corporations and First Nations\u2019 communities. The focus of this research is to determine: British Columbia\u2019s environmental assessment (EA) policy effectiveness for First Nations\u2019 participation in three cases of mine development; what impact the proclamation of the Environmental Assessment Act had on EA policy effectiveness; and, provide recommendations to improve British Columbia\u2019s EA policy effectiveness for First Nations\u2019 participation in mine development. Methods used include a literature review, post-hoc analysis, community observation, and comparative analysis to answer the research questions. Policy effectiveness for each case is determined with an analysis framework that examines efficacy from a practice, performance, proficiency, and purpose perspective. When combined, the four perspectives yield a measurement of overall policy effectiveness. The results of this study indicate that of the three cases of EA, none attained overall policy effectiveness for First Nations\u2019 participation. This is due to non-achievement of principles or objectives within each of the practice, performance, and transactive perspectives examined. The impact of the proclamation of British Columbia\u2019s Environmental Assessment Act on policy effectiveness was most readily seen within the performance perspective. Legislating First Nations to sit on the Project Committee helped towards the achieving of performance objectives. The study concludes with recommendations, based on the case study results, to improve British Columbia\u2019s EA policy effectiveness for First Nations\u2019 participation in mine development.