| Summary: | Specialization: Agricultural and Resource Economics Degree: Doctor of Philosophy Abstract: In many countries, Environmental Assessment (EA) is an important tool for aiding in decision-making about resource development projects, which includes approval or rejection and imposing mitigation Measures. Whether the public can participate in EA and influence decision-making through participation are two important problems because such projects often bring negative environmental or socio-cultural impacts. Theoretically, participation without influence indicates lack of power in the decision process. Participation of Indigenous Peoples and knowledges in EA and whether that participation can influence decision-making are matters of particular focus and concern. This holds in Canada, as evidenced through recent changes to federal EA through Bill C-69. Previous qualitative research has highlighted some key barriers and challenges to participation and the limited ways in which Indigenous Peoples and knowledge systems are reflected in decision-making outcomes. This dissertation focuses on participation and influence of Indigenous and other groups in the EA process in the Mackenzie Valley, Northwest Territories, a co-management process set up to give Indigenous Peoples more say in resource management decision-making than previously. This study has two objectives. Objective 1 is to identify and quantify indicators of participation and EA decisions in the Mackenzie Valley EA process. Objective 2 is to quantitatively evaluate how participation by various groups influences the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board’s decisions on all 39 projects that completed EA between 1998 and 2019. The Reports of Environmental Assessment (REA) from the Review Board public registry were studied for the 39 projects. Indicators of participation and decisions were developed and detailed coding rules were created to guide the conversion of the content of REAs into quantitative indicators related to participation and EA decisions. ...
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