Editorial: Survey says … Aboriginal Canadians have low opinion of mining industry

In another sign of the growing political power of First Nations in Canada, Vancouver-based public relations firm PR Associates has unveiled the results of the first-ever survey of aboriginal Canadians living in rural and remote areas to gauge their perception of the mining and mineral exploration industry.

PR Associates notes that, in Canada, 1,200 aboriginal communities are located within 200 km of 180 producing mines and more than 2,500 active exploration properties, and the mining industry remains the number-one private sector employer of aboriginal Canadians.

The survey was carried out by phone in mid-July 2014, a few weeks after the landmark Tsilhqot’in decision by the Supreme Court of Canada, which shows how a nomadic or semi-nomadic aboriginal group such as the Tsilhqot’in in B.C. can establish title to land they occupied before contact with Western colonialists and continue to use to the present day. The decision winds down the old regulatory era of provincial and federal governments having only a vague “duty to consult” aboriginal groups with respect to development on “traditional land,” and replaces it with a “requirement for consent” by the governments from an aboriginal group when it comes to “title land.”

The survey results show a sharp contrast between aboriginal Canadians and non-aboriginal Canadians living in rural or remote areas when it comes to perceptions of the mining industry: only 38% of aboriginal Canadians in these areas have a “favourable” perception, versus 76% to 82% among the broader Canadian population, as cited in recent industry studies.

Furthermore, 49% of aboriginal respondents had an “unfavourable” opinion of the mining industry, and only 13% didn’t know.

The study found aboriginal support for mining highest in the three territories (57% favourable) and least favourable in Alberta (34%) and Quebec (25%) — i.e., the two provinces with the most industrial development in their northern reaches, namely oilsand megaprojects and vast hydropower dams.

The “unfavourable” rate in B.C. was 50%, but it is likely higher today, as the survey was taken a few weeks before Imperial Metals’ Mount Polley tailings dam failure.

It’s not all bleak, though, as PR Associates found that perceptions about mining companies operating in Canada range from “positive” to “acceptable” for many of the 15 attributes measured: providing opportunities for Canadians, 74%; employee safety in mines, 71%; economic benefits, 69%; treating employees well and respecting workers’ human rights, 65%; youth opportunities, 64%; obeying laws and regulations, 61%; and government collaboration, 65%.

Although the size of the PR Associates survey was on the small side — at 500 aboriginal Canadians across Canada — it is a valuable contribution to the dialogue between the mining industry and aboriginal communities in Canada, and hopefully this work will provide a baseline for expanded and better-supported follow-up surveys in the years ahead.