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Throughput Legitimacy and the Duty to Consult: The Limits of the Law to Produce Quality Interactions in British Columbia's EA Process

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 May 2020

Minh Do Open the ORCID record for Minh Do [Opens in a new window]
Minh Do*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 2W1
*
*Corresponding author. Email: minhthuy.do@mail.utoronto.ca
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Abstract

The duty to consult mandates that the Crown must consult affected Indigenous parties when Crown action may negatively impact Aboriginal rights or title claims. The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) has emphasized that the duty should be characterized by honourable dealings and good faith negotiations. This article argues that the concept of throughput legitimacy can help evaluate the Crown's conduct in consultation. By analyzing 131 British Columbia Environmental Assessments (BC EAs), this article finds that the Crown struggles to uphold throughput legitimacy from the perspective of Indigenous peoples, particularly in the areas of transparency, accountability and effectiveness.

Résumé

Résumé

L'obligation de consulter impose à la Couronne de se concerter avec les parties autochtones intéressées lorsque son action peut avoir un impact négatif sur les droits ancestraux et issus de traités. La Cour suprême du Canada (CSC) a souligné que cette obligation doit être caractérisée par des relations honorables et des négociations de bonne foi. Le présent document soutient que le concept de légitimité du rendement peut contribuer à évaluer la conduite de la Couronne en matière de consultation. En analysant 131 évaluations environnementales de la Colombie-Britannique (BC EAs), ce document constate que la Couronne lutte pour maintenir la légitimité du rendement du point de vue des peuples autochtones, en particulier dans les domaines de la transparence, de la responsabilité et de l'efficacité.

Keywords

Aboriginal Rightsduty to consultIndigenous-Crown relationsEnvironmental Assessmentlegitimacydroits ancestrauxobligation de consulterrelation entre les Autochtones et la Couronneévaluation environnementalelégitimité
Type
Research Article/Étude originale
Information
Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique , Volume 53 , Issue 3 , September 2020 , pp. 577 - 595
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Political Science Association (l'Association canadienne de science politique) and/et la Société québécoise de science politique 2020

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