Overview
Willms & Shier helps create mutually beneficial relationships and partnerships between energy and natural resource industry proponents, municipalities, conservation authorities and Aboriginal communities.
Willms & Shier favours early engagement with Aboriginal communities to help build trust. Lack of effective engagement:
- creates distrust and conflicts, including blockades and litigation
- may cause project permits to be revoked
- causes significant project delays and cost.
How Willms & Shier Helps
Willms & Shier creates effective communication, consultation and negotiation mechanisms with Aboriginal communities through:
- advice and training about the duty to consult and accommodate
- advice about Aboriginal and Treaty rights
- advice about Aboriginal consultation in the context of environmental and energy permitting, resource laws and protocols
- developing consultation plans, guidelines, protocols and records
- negotiating and drafting Memoranda of Understanding that meet the unique needs and concerns of each Aboriginal community and proponent
- negotiating and drafting impact benefit agreements and other resource agreements that contain effective and flexible terms for effective implementation over time
- advice about continuous engagement and consultation
- developing processes to ensure successful ratification by Aboriginal communities of resource agreements
- facilitating and providing advice about partnerships and joint ventures between Aboriginal communities and businesses and industry proponents
- providing and/or facilitating dispute resolution.