Agenda
Pre-Conference Workshops
October 7, 2024
8:00 am
Workshop A – Introduction to the Duty to Consult: Navigating Legal Obligations, Trigger Points, and Indigenous Rights
1:30 pm
Workshop B — Crafting Successful Partnerships: Proven Strategies for Drafting Contracts and Agreements in Indigenous Joint Ventures and Revenue Sharing
Day 1
October 8, 2024
Consultation Priorities, Challenges and Best Practices in 2024
8:00 am
Enjoy a face-to-face meet and greet with some of the speakers and attendees you’ll be networking with over the next few days. This is your chance to gain exclusive access to the expert faculty and get to know one another in a more casual format before the event gets underway!
8:45 am
Traditional Welcome and Land Acknowledgement
9:00 am
Opening Remarks from the Conference Co-Chairs
9:15 am
10:00 am
Join Indigenous Chiefs to hear about the most pressing priorities affecting Indigenous communities, and how to best navigate consultation obligations through 2024. Topics for discussion include:
- Balancing community health, safety, and economic seventy as consultations priorities
- Exploring the threats of climate change, disaster management and extreme weather management through the lens of Indigenous Traditional Knowledge and protected lands
- Listening to perspectives of Metis, Inuit, and other Atlantic Canada Indigenous groups on consultations in 2024
10:45 am
Break and Refreshments
11:00 am
The result of the landmark case, the Blueberry River Court decision has led governments to be more diligent in considering cumulative impacts earlier in the project development process. Join this session for everything you need to know and how it is affecting consultation in practice.
In this session we will focus on:
- Debating how governments should consider cumulative impacts when issuing programs and project approvals
- Examining the level of development needed to infringe on rights
- Discussing farther reaching implications of cumulative effects, such as climate change and cross border claims from American Nations
11:45 am
- More frequent extreme weather events in Atlantic Canada increasing the need for disaster risk reduction plans
- Consultation and knowledge dissemination across first nations is critical to keeping people safe during emergencies. Join us to learn about how to create and facilitate working relationships with first nations for responding to critical weather events
- Reducing Northern Communities reliance on fossil fuels helps to increase resilience to climate change, natural disasters, and promotes economic growth
12:30 pm
Lunch Break
Break Out Sessions
1:30 pm
Discuss and Hear Perspectives from Indigenous Leaders on Consultation Challenges and Brainstorm Solutions
Join us for this opportunity to get together informally and discuss pressing consultation priorities on the Atlantic Coast. Meet new people, network, and ask your questions in this one of a kind facilitated chat!
At each table we will share a local food from the Halifax Indigenous Friendship Center
1:35 pm
Table 1
Mining: Jargon, misconceptions and consultation priorities
1:40 pm
Table 2
Off Shore Energy Projects: Voice your Concerns and Brainstorm Solutions Together
1:45 pm
Table 3
Health Care, Drinking Water, and Other Priorities: Impacts on Communities
2:45 pm
As consultation cases across the country continue to grapple with UNDRIP implementation. Learn how recent cases have delved into the duty to consult vs free, prior, and informed consent in UNDRIP application. Draw actionable take-aways from:
- Assessing the progress of the 2023-2028 Federal UNDRIP Action Plan
- Exploring title changes across Atlantic Canada and trends to revert communities to traditional names throughout consultation processes.
3:30 pm
Networking Break and Refreshments
3:45 pm
- Connecting with neighboring communities and aligning consultation efforts, and overview of best practices
- Utilizing indigenous traditional knowledge and elder participation in consultation and the benefits traditional knowledge can have in outlining boundaries in overlapping territories.
- Exploring strategies for coordinating consultation efforts early in the process.
4:30 pm
When it comes to climate change, we don’t all have the same experiences—especially in Canada. Thawing permafrost, biodiversity loss, wildfires, droughts, and floods threaten food security, economies, human health, and community well-being. As the climate crisis deepens, many Indigenous Peoples are disproportionately affected due to the remote location of many of their communities and their reliance on the land.
- Learn about how Climate change is impacting food security across Atlantic Canada but in land and marine hunting and gathering
- Exploring how to navigate self governance and consultation process to protect land and mitigate the impacts from climate change
5:15 pm
Closing remarks from Conference Co-Chairs
5:30 pm
Conference adjourns until Day Two
Day 2
October 9, 2024
Consultation Processes Overview and Best Practices
8:15 am
Registration Opens and Refreshments Served
8:55 am
Opening Remarks from the Conference Co-Chairs
9:00 am
KEYNOTE: FEDERAL GOVERNMENT PRIORITIES
UN- Sustainable Development Goals and Federal Goals for Indigenous Engagement
Learn about how the government is prioritizing implementing the UN sustainable Development Goals across the Federal Public Service and coordinating consultation efforts to streamline consultation processes and achieve mutual goals across levels of government.
9:45 am
Conducting consultation across overlapping territories continues to be a challenge faced by consultation professionals across industries. Traditional understandings of relations between neighboring nations are often blurred by cumulative concerns. Join us to learn more!
10:30 am
Networking, Wellness, and Refreshments Break – Indigenous Dance and Traditional Knowledge
10:45 am
12:15 pm
Lunch Break
1:15 pm
Wellness Welcome and Indigenous Drumming Session
1:30 pm
Supporting indigenous businesses and industries throughout consultation processes is a priority of the Federal Government. Learn about how the Federal Government is facilitating economic seventy and prosperity through funding programs to reduce communities resilience on fossil fuels, increase business development capacity, and facilitate timing consultations on key issues.
2:15 pm
Title claims, forestry, and Private Land Agreements
3:00 pm
Networking Break and Refreshments
3:15 pm
Marine Consultations: Fisheries, shorelines, land claims and more
4:00 pm
ENERGY FUTURE
How the Green Energy Industry is Propelling Consultation Processes Forward in 2024
4:45 pm