University of Victoria

Environmental Sociology II

This omnibus session brings together presentations with a focus on Environmental Sociology.

Session Chair: Kathrin Mentler, University of Waterloo

Session Organizer: Kathrin Mentler, University of Waterloo, kathi@mentler.org

Oil and Gas Development on Indigenous Lands in Canada: Laws, Treaties, Regulations and Agreements

Laura Wright, University of Western Ontario, lwrigh56@uwo.ca , Jerry White, University of Western Ontario, white@uwo.ca

The development of resources on and near Indigenous territories has many potential benefits including employment creation, wealth sharing and improved service delivery. However, the development of oil and gas resources can also lead to economic inequality, displacement, loss of traditional lifestyles and significant environmental damage. This paper is a review of how oil and gas development on Indigenous lands and traditional territories has been regulated in Canada to balance these benefits and risks. Some of the legislation discussed include the Indian Oil and Gas Act, the First Nations Oil and Gas and Moneys Management Act, the Umbrella Final Agreement in the Canadian North as well as unregulated impact benefit agreements between First Nations and industry. These regimes and others are examined in terms of their provisions for environmental protection, and meaningful Aboriginal consultation and is intended to inform discussions on how to improve the policy approach to resource development.

Thursday June 6, 2013 03:15 PM - 04:45 PM Building: Elliott Building, Room: E-060

Environmental Ethics and Indigenous Identity in Wawatay News

Stephen Riggins, Memorial University of Newfoundland , sriggins@mun.ca

This presentation is a discourse analysis of a set of news stories about mining in northern Ontario published in the Indigenous newspaper Wawatay News. It examines the claim that the traditional environmental knowledge of the Indigenous populations in North America functions as an ethnic symbol distinguishing First Nations people from other Canadians. This paper finds that very few news stories about mining in 2011, in the territory of the readers of Wawatay News, portrayed a modern version of traditional environmental knowledge. Instead, the dominant discourse in most stories was a conservative environmental ethic consistent with Euro-Canadian values. In conclusion, it is argued that the dominant environmental discourse of Wawatay News reflects the weak organizational structure of Indigenous newspapers in Canada.

Thursday June 6, 2013 03:15 PM - 04:45 PM Building: Elliott Building, Room: E-060

Mayors's social representations of the environment.

Johanna-Maud Egoroff, UQÀM Université du Québec à Montréal, jogjog@hotmail.fr

Environment and sustainable development are at the heart of current debates and decisions. The urgency of the environmental crisis calls necessary decisions at the political level, global or more local. The creation of local Agenda 21 shows how the environment is at the center of municipal policy decisions. We are currently conducting a study that focuses on the social representations of the environment and sustainable development of mayors of Montreal to determine whether the protection of the environment is a concern and how it articulates with other social issues, such as the economy and its regulation. And we propose to present our preliminary research results at the conference.

Thursday June 6, 2013 03:15 PM - 04:45 PM Building: Elliott Building, Room: E-060

The environemental vision of two dominant actors of our society

Alice Friser, UQÀM Université du Québec à Montréal, friser.alice@uqam.ca , Corinne Gendron, UQÀM , gendron.corinne@uqam.ca , Johanna-Maud Egoroff, UQÀM, jogjog@hotmail.fr , Gabriel Legaré, UQÀM, legare.gabriel@courrier.uqam.ca

In 2001, in a study which focused on social representations of the environment of the economic elite, Corinne Gendron showed the existence of ecological concerns among these leaders and the original caracterization of the environmental problematic they offer. The ecological crisis is a major objective for the economic elite, that is to say that the environmental issue is no longer the concern of ecologists only and is defined by others actors in the society. Currently, we are conducting a study on the social representations of the environment of the political elite and we propose to present a comparison between two dominant classes of our society, the economic elite and the political elite, that most of the time we tend to oppose rather than to make them dialogue.

Thursday June 6, 2013 03:15 PM - 04:45 PM Building: Elliott Building, Room: E-060