Sowing the future: A better understanding of corporate-indigenous community economic partnerships in the québec forestry sector

Abstract

A major challenge for the forestry sector is providing Indigenous communities a fairer share of benefits resulting from forest-based development. This can be achieved by building Corporate-Indigenous Community Economic Partnerships (CICEPs). However, this avenue requires a better understanding of: 1) the structures that Corporate-Indigenous Community Economic Partnerships (CICEPs) can take and the impact of these structures on the relationship between both parties; and, 2) the necessary capitals for the creation of CICEPs so that they can meet the criteria of equitable sharing, while generating mutually profitable benefits. To address these knowledge gaps, we conducted a qualitative research involving 21 semi-structured interviews with Indigenous and industry representatives located in Québec, Canada. CICEPs can be divided into four structures: informal agreement, service contracting relationship, memorandum of understanding and joint venture. These partnerships can be translated into different forms of capital: human, social, political and financial. To promote and maximize CICEPs, it is necessary to link the structure-based approach with the capital-based approach. This research shows that more structured partnerships require larger investments in various forms of capital.