Indigenous peoples and environmental management: A review of Canadian regional agreements and their potential application to Australia-part 1

At the domestic and international levels there have been recent legal and policy changes which have significant implications for the role of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in environmental decision-making. The Native Title Act, coupled with the formulation of new international standards for the treatment of indigenous peoples, have placed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in a stronger position to claim a larger role in the development and management of their lands. However, so far public debate has been confined largely to issues of land tenure rather than land management. The Canadian experience of negotiated regional land claims agreements is one approach which indigenous peoples in Australia could consider for the establishment of new institutional arrangements for indigenous participation in environmental decision-making and land management issues. Part 1 of this article reviews and analyses the history of regional agreements in Canada, in particular the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement and the Yukon Agreement. Part 2 (forthcoming issue of EPLJ) assesses the appropriateness and feasibility of applying this model to Australia.