ABSTRACT
It is well documented that mining activities can have disproportionate impacts on Indigenous communities. While states and industries are increasingly recognizing the participatory rights of Indigenous Peoples, adapting their practices to new standards, a growing literature shows there is good reason to be skeptical about their capacity to foster meaningful Indigenous participation. This chapter focuses on how Indigenous Peoples negotiate mining development inside and outside official regulatory processes in Brazil and Canada. Both countries manage Indigenous rights—both claimed and/or recognized—while facing an increase in investment on major projects located on or close to Indigenous lands. While Indigenous Peoples and other actors have focused on consultation and free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) rights in Latin America, in Canada, court decisions and practices have promoted “benefit-sharing” approaches. Drawing on the “inhabited institutions” theoretical approach, we will focus on the interpretation, negotiation, and contestation of institutions that emerge from the interactions among Indigenous Peoples, mining industries, and governments. In doing so, we will show that institutions allow certain groups disproportionate access to the decision-making process. Nevertheless, Indigenous Peoples are asserting their political agency, creating new ways to interpret their participatory rights, and challenging how the state defines their rights, thereby creating new space for negotiations.
