Working with Aboriginals

Rights of Way on Aboriginal Land

When a pipeline company proposes to build a pipeline through reserve or traditional land, the company and the Aboriginal community work together to determine where pipelines will have the least impact on the community and the environment.

Pipeline operators and Aboriginal communities work to find a solution that provides the most benefits to both groups. These include jobs, training and business opportunities from pipeline construction and operation, as well as economic development to local communities by providing rents or property tax payments on reserve lands.  Communities are often directly compensated for the use of reserve lands for pipelines and surface facilities.

Pipeline operators often assist communities that might not be very familiar with legal proceedings and stakeholder engagement processes.

Did you Know?

Companies sometimes become involved in “capacity building,” where industry helps Aboriginal communities develop the tools they need to make decisions about pipeline development and protect their natural environment and traditional way of life.

Impact on Traditional Way of Life

Building and operating pipelines can bring economic and employment prospects to local aboriginal communities. But the process can also put pressure on the traditional way of life of many residents.

Long-established and time-honoured practices such as hunting, trapping and fishing are potentially vulnerable, especially during pipeline construction. Increases in incoming population, new technology, and industrial development pull the Aboriginal people between the benefits of modernization and the preservation of their traditional way of life.

Aboriginal communities and the pipeline companies that work with them focus on finding a balance between economic prosperity and traditional roots.

Pipeline operators are forming partnerships with Aboriginal communities to minimize the social and environmental impacts of pipeline operations, and to help deliver economic prosperity while preserving traditional culture.

By working with local communities, pipeline designers and operators are learning about local traditional knowledge of the land, forest, water and wildlife, and are improving planning, construction and operation of their pipeline projects.