THE VICTOR DIAMOND MINE ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT AND THE MUSHKEGOWUK TERRITORY FIRST NATIONS: CRITICAL SYSTEMS THINKING AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

To better understand the underlying reasons for the diversity of perspectives in this case and to understand how certain perspectives resulted in the process excluding certain First Nations' interest, we briefly examined the multiple perspectives involved in the Victor Diamond Mine EA process in the context of the historical and political factors relevant to the western James Bay region of northern Ontario, Canada. Since the Royal Proclamation of 1763, and through the Indian Act, Canadian Aboriginal peoples have lost control and management of their own lands and resources; their traditional customs and forms of organization were altered in the interest of remaking Aboriginal people in the image of European newcomers (Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, 1996). [...]the First Nations of Fort Albany and Kashechewan were originally one community until the 1950s when they split along religious lines into the predominantly Catholic community of Fort Albany and the predominantly Anglican community of Kashechewan (Solomon, 2008, pers. comm.). [...]a partnership between the proselytizing churches and the Canadian government led to one of the worst impositions on Cree and other Aboriginal culture, the residential school system. Unlike the Cree communities on the east coast of James Bay, who remained united through the Great Whale hydro-electric development in the 1 970s (Salisbury, 1 986). [...]government responsible authorities, despite crafting guidelines that included all of the coastal communities, eventually approved the use of a comprehensive EA that only addressed Attawapiskat First Nations' interests and concerns; thus, the federal government's responsible authorities failed to ensure that all First Nations interests were addressed. [...]government bureaucrats might have viewed such participation on the land over an extended period of time as a perceived conflict of interest by other stakeholders.