Registration Opens and Refreshments

Traditional welcome

Debbie Eisan
Community Planner
Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Center

Conference Co-Chairs Opening Remarks

Renée Pelletier
Managing Partner
Olthuis, Kleer, Townshend

Tuma Young
Lawyer & Indigenous Law Professor
Cape Breton University

UNDRIP DRILL DOWN PANEL: How to Overcome Emerging Challenges of Implementing UNDRIP and the Impact on Consultation and Engagement

Keith Smith
UN Declaration Act Implementation Secretariat
Justice Canada

Kimberley Zinck
Director General Nòkwewashk (No-kwe-wahshk)
Natural Resources Canada

Bruno Steinke
Senior Director, Consultation and Accommodation Unit
Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada

The Implementation of The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act has recently been underway and is changing the way we look at consultation and engagement. This Act provides a roadmap for the Government of Canada and Indigenous peoples to work together to implement the Declaration based on lasting reconciliation, healing, and cooperative relations. This session will discuss the legal implementation and adoption of the legislation as well as unpacking how it is to work in practice.

• Incorporating cooperation, consultation, and collaboration with indigenous communities
• Implementing the provincial framework of UNDRIP
• Determining whether UNDRIP helps or hinders consultation
• How UNDRIP protects lands, water, and resources
• Review of how other provinces are using this a toolkit
• Determining where the federal government hopes to continue taking the plan
• How does this change the emerging definition of Duty to Consult

Morning Networking Break

Special Video Message from Fredericton MP

Jenica Atwin
Member of Parliament, Fredericton, New Brunswick
House of Commons

HOT TOPIC

The UNDRIP Action Plan: Considerations for Economic and Resource Development

John Desjarlais
Executive Director
Indigenous Resource Network

In this presentation, our audience will gain insights into the UNDRIP Action Plan and its implications for economic and resource development for Indigenous communities and industry. Focusing on key considerations that need to be taken into account to ensure the compatibility between these development activities and the rights of Indigenous peoples outlined in UNDRIP.

Interactive Discussion Tables

Moderated by Conference Co-Chairs:

Renée Pelletier
Managing Partner
Olthuis, Kleer, Townshend

Tuma Young
Lawyer & Indigenous Law Professor
Cape Breton University

Join an interactive session where session delegates are invited to participate in round table discussion on their most burning questions, hear from ther peers and learn about different communities.

Networking Luncheon

CHIEFS & INDIGENOUS LEADERS PANEL: Top Priorities and Challenges for Leaders and Communities – and Pushing the Boundaries of Consultation

Sacha LaBillois
President
JEDI (Joint Economic Development Initiative)

Samantha Noganosh
Lands, Resources and Environment Department Manager
Magnetawan First Nation

• Implementing cooperation, consultation, and collaboration with indigenous communities
• Adhering to protocol, best practices for getting started
• Decolonizing the engagement and consultation process
• Communicating information through the whole community
• Creating Continuity from on a project when the people are changing

Introduction to the Canadian Minerals and Metals Plan (CMMP) and Critical Mining Development in Atlantic Canada

Melanie Campbell
Director
Canadian Minerals and Metals Plan

Gain an introduction to the Canadian Minerals and Metals plan, with focus on Indigenous engagement and on CMMP targets and areas of action to Advancing the Participation of Indigenous Peoples.

• Critical Minerals program development (information on the work of the Critical Minerals Centre of Excellence)
• Departmental engagement standards
• Consultations expectations for mining companies

Reference to NRCan’s Good Practices in Community Engagement and Readiness Guide
Industry best practices
MAC’s TSM
PDAC’s e3 Plus
MiHR’s Mining Essentials

Afternoon Refreshment Break

The path to developing offshore wind in Atlantic Canada

Sven Scholtysik
Research Manager
Net Zero Atlantic

Join us for a discussion about building community capacity and leadership to help navigate potential opportunities and constraints related to offshore wind.

Closing Remarks and End of Day One

Social Opportunity: Movie Night & Q&A with the Director – “You Can Call Me Roger”

Don’t miss this social opportunity to network with your peers and join us for movie night. “YOU CAN CALL ME ROGER” Depicts Assembly of First Nations Chief Roger Augustine’s (retired) life story and lived experience with the long assault against Indigenous People.

This award-winning documentary provides a contextual window into the long history of colonialism and serves as an important vehicle for understanding, healing, and reconciling the relationship between Indigenous People and Canada. It is a story of hope for a better Canada. Chief Roger’s history as a leader plays out against examples where progress – true progress – has been made despite the guilt, sympathy, and dismissal that remain to block perfectly achievable resolutions.

You Can Call Me Roger encourages Canadians from all backgrounds to recognize our complicity with a long history of broken promises and hardships against Indigenous People as well as the bold hope that Chief Roger has led and continues to offer towards true healing and reconciliation.

Plus! Join us for a live Q&A with the filmmaker, Jon Mann, Director and Filmmaker with Popular Demand Pictures!

Registration Opens and Refreshments are Served

Conference Co-Chairs Opening Remarks

Renée Pelletier
Managing Partner
Olthuis, Kleer, Townshend

Tuma Young
Lawyer & Indigenous Law Professor
Cape Breton University

NEW!

CASE STUDY: Emerging Trends in the Nuclear Sector and How it is Affecting Consultation and Engagement in Atlantic Canada

Adam Levine
Team Leader, Indigenous Relations, and Participant Funding
Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission

• Update on the latest trends and projects in the nuclear sector, including in Atlantic Canada
• An overview of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) and the CNSC’s approach to consultation and engagement for both integrated impact assessments and non-designated projects
• Best practices for long-term engagement, collaboration and relationship building, including the CNSC’s new life-cycle capacity funding support program: the Indigenous and Stakeholder Capacity Fund

LEGAL PANEL

Recent Developments in Consultation Law and Practice Derek Simon

Derek A. Simon
Managing Partner
Burchells LLP

Tuma Young
Lawyer & Indigenous Law Professor
Cape Breton University

Focusing on significant legal developments in the duty to consult, this session will delve into recent case law, legislative changes, and practical tools being developed by Indigenous Peoples to address the duty to consult and accommodate.

• Navigating recent legal trends affecting consultation
• Analyzing recent and benchmark court room cases, including:
• Yahey v. British Columbia (2021)
• Southwind v Canada (2021)
• Considering the impact of legislative changes, including the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (UNDA)
• Looking at tools used by Indigenous Peoples to manage the consultation process

Morning Refreshment Break

How Recent Land Claims Have Impacted the Consultation Process – What You Need to Know

Renée Pelletier
Managing Partner
Olthuis, Kleer, Townshend

• Understanding the implications for relations between industry, first nations, regulators, and government.
• Exploring comprehensive claims, also known as a modern treaty, and the impact on Indigenous rights
• Determining what can warrant a specific claim, including unmet government obligations under historical treaties, or the Indian Act
• Examining differences between consultations processes when there is a land claim, pending or resolved

Networking Luncheon

INDUSTRY PANEL

Best Practices for Collaborating with First Nation Groups on Natural Resource Projects

Karen Augustine
Director, Economy Building
Mi’gmawe’l Tplu’taqnn Inc. (MTI)

Kristie Halka-Glazier
Energy & Mines Coordinator
Mi’gmawe’l Tplu’taqnn Inc. (MTI)

Claire Harris
Senior Advisor – Environment and Engagement – Advanced Reactor Development
NB Power

Dean Vicaire
Executive Director
Mi'kmaw Organization Mi'gmawe'l Tplu'taqnn

• Exploring priorities and initiatives for consultation and relationship building
• Analyzing the federal government’s latest guidance document on engaging with First Nation communities
• Debating best practices for capacity building to ensure First Nation groups can participate in their own projects
• Outlining different methods of training to First Nation groups
• Determining how to effectively source funding
• Evaluating whether an Indigenous group or community group is interested in your project
• Tailoring engagement and consultation practices to specific regions, and specific communities

Afternoon Break

Deep Dive into the Aboriginal Rights and Information System

Catherine James
Analyst
Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada

The Aboriginal and Treaty Rights Information System (ATRIS) is a web-based, geographic information system that locates Indigenous nations, groups, communities, and organizations and displays information pertaining to their potential or established Aboriginal or treaty rights.

An overview of ATRIS and its main functions will be provided. Participants will also learn about how information is organized in ATRIS and how to conduct their own consultation research.

GOVERNMENT INSIGHTS: Priorities and Initiatives for Consultation Relationship Building

Adam Levine
Team Leader, Indigenous Relations, and Participant Funding
Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission

This discussion will address the consultation priorities of government speakers as well as the barriers and pathways to achieve those priorities.

• Knowing with whom to consult, including who speaks for which organizations, off-reserve groups, and native councils
• Consulting amid overlapping territories
• Identifying when consultation is legitimate and when it will be questioned

Breaking Down Barriers to Economic Development for First Nations Communities: Best Practices for Development Partnerships and Achieving Mutual Growth Opportunities

Tom Mann
Indigenous-Business Relations
Gitpo Spirit Lodge

Justine Maloney
Employment/Economic Development Coordinator
Nova Scotia Native Women's Association

Rose Paul
CEO & President
Bayside Development Corporation

• Reviewing the Indigenous Champion file and understanding how it aims to increase the number of business opportunities for Fist Nation Communities in Atlantic Canada
• Determining how to expand traditional knowledge including Indigenous culture and history, and understanding how it impacts project development
• Developing strategies to for renewable energy growth and Indigenous involvement
• Understanding power purchase agreements, royalties, and solar technologies

Closing Remarks from the Conference Co-Chair Conference Concludes