Bioenergy development and the implications for the social wellbeing of Indigenous peoples in Canada

Abstract

In this article, we focus on wellbeing as an important concept relating to bioenergy development in Canada. We use a three-dimensional or social approach to understanding wellbeing, which includes subjective and relational aspects in addition to the more traditional material dimension of wellbeing (e.g. financial resources, a healthy environment). Indigenous business leaders engaged in forestry, energy, and related resource sectors were recruited through our partner organization, the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business, as a representative sample of key people to be engaged in the scoping of existing and future bioenergy partnerships in Canada. Participants often responded in ways that did not discretely fit into categories, but instead reflected a perspective on their own and their community’s dimensions of social wellbeing, which we captured through open coding for emergent themes. Our findings on material wellbeing illustrate that relationships between different wellbeing dimensions need to be considered for community-appropriate bioenergy development.