Creating a new stage for sustainable forest management through co-management with Aboriginal peoples in Ontario: The need for constitutional-level enabling.

摘要

One of the crucial issues facing those involved in the management of our forests and the formulation of policy to guide that management is to develop new relationships with Aboriginal peoples. These new relationships must address two elements: the aspirations of Aboriginal peoples and the principles of sustainable forest management (SFM) balancing environmental, economic and social criteria. The protection of Aboriginal and treaty rights and increased Aboriginal participation in forest management in Canada have been embraced in key national forest policies---the National Forest Strategy and the Canadian Council of Forest Ministers Criteria and Indicators of Sustainable Forest Management. However, institutions to implement these policies fully have not met Aboriginal peoples' aspirations, and exclusion and conflict continue to mark relationships among the various actors involved in forest management.;Through an exploration of the institutional framework for forest management in Ontario and the interactions of different actors---governments, industry and environmental nongovernmental organizations---in the forest management arena across international, national and regional levels, this thesis explo res ways of improving Aboriginal peoples' involvement in forest management.;This thesis has four parts: (1) an institutional analysis at the macro level of forest management in Ontario as it relates to Aboriginal peoples, (2) case studies at the micro level of how two First Nations are involved in and affected by forest management; (3) a comparison of the two case studies; and (4) an exploration of an alternative framework for Aboriginal participation in forest management.;The institutional analysis uses the Institutional Analysis and Development framework (IAD), exploring interactions among actors at multiple levels. The actors include Aboriginal peoples, the state, the forest industry and environmental non-governmental organizations. The two case studies---Grassy Narrows and Pikangikum First Nations---illustrate how these various actor groups interact at the local level. An alternative framework---rights-based co-management---offers a coexistence rather than assimilation approach, focussing on the need for negotiated constitutional-level agreements between Aboriginal governments and provincial and federal governments.