Critical Minerals Can Create Transformative Economic Opportunities for Indigenous Communities — If We Do It Right – CCOC
From the Canadian Chamber of Commerce’s Critical Minerals Council members, Andrew Spencer, EVP, Capital Portfolio Delivery, Hydro One, and Matthew Foss, Vice President of Research & Public Policy, Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business.
Critical minerals are crucial to Canada’s green economic growth. A substantial increase in the mining and manufacturing of the 31 critical minerals we have deposits of, particularly the six prioritized by the Canadian Critical Minerals Strategy, will allow us to strengthen priority supply chains, develop and adopt the technologies of a greener future, and capitalize on untapped economic potential.
But the Canadian Critical Minerals Strategy also carries other potential benefits, given that many future mining sites are located on traditional Indigenous lands. Namely, the Strategy presents a chance to partner with Indigenous communities to create transformative economic opportunities and facilitate greater reconciliation. But this will only happen if true partnerships are cultivated.
Previous attempts at partnership have failed to produce desirable economic and social outcomes for Indigenous communities because they have all lacked one essential trait — Indigenous participation throughout the lifecycle of the project.
