Equity stakes key for First Nation resource partnerships: renowned Aboriginal partnership expert emphasizes ownership.

• Author: Stewart, Nick
• Position: ABORIGINAL

First Nations should insist on taking an ownership role in natural resource projects, rather than consistently going to the Impact Benefit Agreement (IBA) as a partnership solution, according to a leading expert on Aboriginal partnerships.

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"The leverage of First Nations has been increased over the years through legal and social means, but it hasn't always resulted in better agreements," says Mike Lewis, based out of Port Alberni on British Columbia's Vancouver Island.

"For First Nations to advance, they need to position themselves more powerfully in these economic projects, and an equity stake represents a much stronger position."

Lewis would know, having authored Aboriginal Joint Ventures: Negotiating Successful Partnerships in 1993. This slim document has been used as a roadmap for countless discussions across the country, and Lewis himself has helped more than 250 First Nations communities to prepare for and develop joint ventures with resource companies over the last 40 years.

Most notably, he was lead negotiator between MacMillan Blodel (now Weyerhaeuser) and five local First Nations of Ahousaht, Hesquiaht, Tla-o-qui-aht, Toquaht and Ucluelet, over logging controversies in the ecologically sensitive Clayoquot Sound region of B.C.

With his help, they took a majority position in a joint venture known as Iisaak Forest Resources, where the First Nations have since become sole owners.

These days, Lewis is overseeing the creation of a similar book commissioned by the Yukon provincial government, centred around First Nations and mining.

While forestry and mining may have some key differences, many of the concepts of the role to be played by First Nations is the same.

One such element includes the role of IBAs, which are the widely accepted but non-legislated format for partnerships between First Nations and outside companies.

These tend to offer some strong benefits for the affected communities, but Lewis argues that direct joint ventures should become recognized as the preferred path.

While IBAs typically feature provisions for education, training and "preferred" status for contract work throughout the life of the project, these elements represent a "downstream" element of project spending. In other words, their costs are already spoken for in the budget; whether the work goes to Aboriginal contractors or not, the cost of contractors is already built into the project, Lewis says.

What's more, IBAs typically have little...