Advocate raises concerns about Indigenous exclusion during mining conference session

With a focus on lands, resources, energy, critical minerals, climate policy and reconciliation, Katherine Koostachin has spent the past 15 years advancing Indigenous priorities.

Koostachin, a member of Attawapiskat First Nation in northern Ontario, says there are troubling gaps in Canada’s dealings with Indigenous peoples.

Koostachin was a speaker March 3 at the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) conference in Toronto. The PDAC conference is considered the world’s premier mineral exploration and mining convention.

“Right now, we’re shifting into a greener economy where we’re trying to electrify, especially in the mining operations,” she said. But Canada’s attention to climate concerns have taken a backseat to other priorities.

“Right now, in this geopolitical context, and with the recent election of Ontario and the U.S. trade tariff war and the looming federal election, we're actually at a point where we're kind of regressing in a sense of climate policy. That’s for sure.”

Koostachin is a former senior advisor of Indigenous policy and litigation in the Prime Minister’s Office. She spoke at a conference session titled Understanding the impacts of climate change: Perspectives and collaboration.

Affordability, the tariff war, calls to accelerate oil and gas extraction, and the desire to speed up access to the country’s critical minerals and get them to global markets, “all of these have potential implications or there's concerns from Indigenous communities how they participate in this process,” she said. She takes issue with the lack of participation of Indigenous peoples in decision-making processes on these matters.

Engagement with Indigenous peoples on Canada’s climate change policies came late in the game, Koostachin said, and that concern is repeating with critical minerals.

“What I found is that when the critical mineral strategy was being developed in 2022 by the federal government, Indigenous (inclusion) was kind of an afterthought,” said Koostachin, who is vice-president of Indigenous relations and reconciliation for the Ottawa-based Sussex Strategy Group.

Before releasing the strategy, they had to go back and address Indigenous concerns, Koostachin said. Federal officials finally sought out Indigenous participation for a more thoughtful analysis for the critical mineral strategy.

Koostachin believes the desire to accelerate the development of critical minerals provides an opportunity to reset the relationship between the federal government and Indigenous peoples.

“We need to be a part of this,” she said. “We don’t want to be left behind.”

There are inequities that need to be addressed. She uses her own remote First Nation and the move towards electric vehicles as an example of such inequity.

“How are they going to get electric vehicles?” she said. “I just don’t see them withstanding the harsh climate as well, even though I know there’s supposed to be improvements,” said Koostachin.

“There’s a lot of change happening in society and I worry about people like in my community.”  She uses the development of artificial intelligence as another inequity.

“They’re going to get further behind in a sense that it’s not their making. And they will continue to be poor and they struggle.”

Federal officials do claim they want Indigenous peoples to be part of the economy.
“I just don't want our communities to be left behind and just because you're accelerating something, don't consider climate change and Indigenous as an afterthought,” said Koostachin.

She was joined in her session by two other panelists, Claudia Tornquist and Sonia li Trottier.

Tornquist is the CEO of Kodiak Copper Corp., a Vancouver-based company which engages in the exploration and development of base metals properties throughout North America.

Trottier is the director of the Canada Climate Law Initiative, a national organization that provides businesses and regulators with climate governance guidance to assist with decisions towards a net-zero economy.

The PDAC conference has been held annually in Toronto since 1932. This year’s event featured about 27,000 delegates from more than 135 countries around the world.

Local Journalism Initiative Reporters are supported by a financial contribution made by the Government of Canada.