THE RESULTS

A number of good things have come from these three agreements. There are compensationCompensation: something (such as money) given or received as payment or reparation (as for a service or loss or injury). payments, jobs, and training for the LKD. There is money for community hunts and to buy food, clothing, and other things. There are more businesses and joint venturesJoint Venture: commonly, a business to which two or more parties contribute the essential land, capitalCapital: cash, property, equipment, services, and contracts or leases., and services, in return for a share in its ownership and control. (Note: the Joint Venture is very strictly defined under Canadian law.). (See the “Summary of Benefits To Date,” below.)

The agreements also have been a source of unhappiness. During negotiations, elders became very anxious for the community. People grew tired of meetings. Young people felt left out of the negotiations. The negotiating teams felt overwhelmed.

As a result, there were serious misunderstandings about the scope of the Ekati IBA. People thought it just concerned some of the diamond pipesDiamond Pipes: The diamond is the hardest natural substance known. It is found in a type of igneous rock known as kimberlite. The vertical shafts of kimberlite that extend deep inside the earth often contain diamonds and may be called “diamond pipes.”, not BHP Billiton’s entire claim. Government recognized and funded only three of the four First Nations party to the negotiation.

Sometimes the problem lay not with the agreement itself, but in how it was implemented. Members of the LKD disagreed over how to use the compensation payments. BHP Billiton did not keep the LKD members as well-informed as it promised. Members also felt the company did not create all the jobs that it promised local people. But the LKD was unsure how to get the company to change its ways.

As the Ekati IBA required, BHP Billiton funded an Independent MonitoringMonitoring: the act of observing something and often keeping a record of it. People monitor mining activities or impactsImpacts: the effect or impression of one thing on another such as the impact of a mining project on the life of an Aboriginal community. in order to determine their effect on the land, resources, and communities. Agency to act as a “watchdog.” This has made Ekati one of the most closely monitored mines in Canada. But people have also wondered how “independent” the agency could be, when the company pays all its bills. When mine impactsImpacts: the effect or impression of one thing on another such as the impact of a mining project on the life of an Aboriginal community. have been greater than projected, BHP Billiton has claimed that the mine did not cause the impacts. BHP Billiton has also reduced its funding of the agency.

(When it negotiated the Diavik Participation Agreement, the LKD tried to correct this monitoring problem. LKD First Nation insisted that the agreement set up a monitoring committee that only had community members. However, the highly technical language of mining information made their work very difficult to do.)

Ekati has not created nearly as many jobs for LKD members as expected. A number of barriers keep community members from getting jobs at the mine or from starting businesses that support the mine. The Local Employment Officer listed five major barriers to LKD employment:

• lack of job readiness
• lack of training in technical skills
• drug and alcohol problems
• lack of local people and agencies to support business developmentBusiness Development: strategies and techniques used to create and grow economic enterprises.
• lack of capitalCapital: cash, property, equipment, services, and contracts or leases. to lend to businesses or to invest in them

Mining companies continue to request permission to work in LKD traditional territory. In 2005, two diamond and two uranium mining companies applied to Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board for exploration permitsPermits: legally-binding permissions that govern activities that may occur during exploration or mine operation, like quarrying, use or impact on water, building of transmission lines, etc.. LKD responded quickly. Asserting its right of refusal under the Interim Measures Agreement, LKD wrote strong letters to the Board, urging that it reject the four applications. Each was instead referred for environmental assessmentEnvironmental Assessment: a written report, compiled prior to a production decision that examines the effects that proposed mining activities will have on the natural surroundings.. All four companies then withdrew their applications. They said that they did not want to undertake a full environmental assessment to get a “simple” exploration permit.¹⁵