Navigating jurisdiction: local and regional strategies to access economic benefits from mineral development

Abstract

AbstractThis article examines how concepts of territory and scale are used to create places of benefit from resource activities in remote rural regions. Our case study of mineral development in northwest British Columbia compares the experiences of First Nation, municipal and regional governments in accessing economic benefits from mineral development. Territorial land claims are changing the multi‐scalar jurisdictional hierarchy and the socio‐spatial relations between senior levels of government, resource companies, and local communities. The territorial rights of First Nation governments provide the political leverage to negotiate with companies seeking to “earn a social license” to operate within their territories. Municipal and regional governments, however, are restricted by their role in the multi‐scalar jurisdictional hierarchy. In response, municipal and regional governments are devising strategies to capture economic benefits. We discuss three economic development strategies used to access benefits from mineral development activities: negotiating commitments during the environmental assessment process, investment attraction strategies, and lobbying the provincial government for a share of the resource revenues generated from mining. These strategies reflect the political and economic context for local government in remote resource‐dependent regions and the changing socio‐spatial relations between senior levels of government, resource companies, and First Nation, municipal and regional governments.