Free, Prior and Informed Consent in Canada: Towards a New Relationship with Indigenous Peoples

Free, prior and informed consent is a principle that has been developed to describe important procedural and substantive aspects of the active engagement with and participation in decision making by Indigenous people with respect to projects and other activities affecting their ancestral land or their Indigenous rights. As a country, Canada is on a continued journey to redress the injustices of the past, to address the social and economic imbalance of the present, and most importantly, to set a path for the future.

In this new era of reconciliation, free, prior and informed consent is identified as an important issue for Indigenous peoples, for governments, for project proponents, for employers, and for the investment community—indeed for all Canadians. We hope this paper will inform and support constructive dialogue on this important topic.