Compensating indigenous social and cultural losses: A community-based multiple-attribute approach

Abstract

Impact evaluations in North America are required to examine not only the economic, environmental, and health effects of activities but also their social and cultural impacts. In practice, however, many important social and cultural effects are often neglected as part of court-sponsored negotiations and decisions by government regulators because they are not represented in terms of economic markets, specific to the decision context, or lack standard measures. This omission is especially significant when determining compensation for Indigenous communities due to restrictions placed on their fundamental connection to traditional lands and the negative impacts on language, governance, social systems, and well-being that rely on the maintenance of shared, place-based practices. We propose a comprehensive, multiattribute approach for estimating compensation to Indigenous communities and summarize results from a case-study application in two Indigenous Dene Nations. In a final section we discuss the broader implications of adopting a more accurate depiction of impacts and a consistent, principles-based approach to calculating compensation payments that is more respectful of the losses experienced over time by many Indigenous communities as the result of encroachments onto their traditional territories.