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Donna Kennedy-Glans: First Nations are stalling small projects, sidelining other stakeholders

First Nations, backed by consultation rules and UNDRIP-inspired policies, are delaying or derailing modest community projects

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One unhappy First Nation makes headlines.

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Canadians broadly support reconciliation with First Nations. As Prime Minister Mark Carney often reminds us, we accept the constitutional duty to consult on large-scale nation-building projects — oil and gas pipelines, new mines, and port expansions. But a troubling pattern is spreading: a single First Nation’s objection to more mundane local decisions — usually framed around inadequate consultation or cumulative environmental impacts — now lands in small-town newspaper headlines and can delay or kill modest community projects.

Donna Kennedy-Glans: First Nations are stalling small projects, sidelining other stakeholders Back to video

Meanwhile, non-Indigenous residents, businesses and recreational users — who form the vast majority of stakeholders — can find themselves sidelined.

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