Extraction Contracting: The Struggle for Control of Indigenous Lands

Abstract

What constitutes ‘consent’ to extraction in the contemporary moment? How do we know when it has been freely given? How does it manifest in the world? Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, when defending his government’s support of the controversial Transmountain Pipeline Expansion project over the past year has often included reference to the fact that more than 40 First Nations along the proposed route have signed “Mutual-Benefits Agreements” with the company. In the context of increasingly contested and politicized resource extraction projects, and reinvigorated and revitalized Indigenous legal orders, what should we make of the negotiation of private contractual agreements now routinely offered up as evidence of consent?