Tag: consultation

Companion to the “Nothing To Do With Land” series (especially Part 5: The Next Comfort Line – From Programs to Property). This piece uses a joint press release from Three Rivers Mi’kmaq Band and Benoit First Nation as Exhibit A that the “nothing to do with land” story is over. It shows how language about programs, reconciliation, and representation is now being cashed in as a claim to governing authority, unceded territory, and control over consultation through UNDRIP and FPIC. The article argues that once this shift is out in the open, locals need to see how every “programs not property” road quietly ends at the map. Read More...

Part 4 of the "Nothing to do with Land" series. Even without treaties or legal recognition, maps are quietly reshaping Newfoundland’s land politics. This essay exposes how symbolic “traditional territory” maps act as soft land claims—used in signage, education, consultation protocols, and even conservation overlays like 30×30. In Port au Port, the groundwork is already laid: self-government rhetoric has begun implying jurisdiction, and the next phase is likely visual—rendering those claims cartographically. Once printed or shared, even unofficial maps influence local perception, policy behavior, and emotional response. This piece explains how soft sovereignty advances not through courts or legislatures, but through PDFs, posters, and the normalization of invented borders. Read More...

This article examines how the Port au Port wind-to-hydrogen project exemplifies manufactured consent in Newfoundland and Labrador. Drawing on the Local Paradox framework, municipal dependency research, and the legacy of the cod collapse, Churchill Falls, Muskrat Falls, and offshore oil, it shows how structural weakness, historical trauma, and consultation rituals combine to greenwash global agendas as local opportunity. Port au Port is framed not as a community-led vision, but as an echo of elsewhere’s priorities — Berlin’s hydrogen demand, Ottawa’s climate branding, and corporate strategies — imposed on fragile institutions and vulnerable populations. Read More...

This article examines how Newfoundland’s supposed “wins” in land and resource politics often amount to optics rather than substance. From Gros Morne’s UNESCO designation and the displacement of families, to federal “custodial management” of the fisheries, to new wind-to-hydrogen megaprojects backed abroad, locals are consistently left with symbolic recognition while real control and economic benefits flow outward. Even at the municipal level, provincial bailouts reinforce dependency rather than autonomy. By tracing these patterns, the piece argues that Newfoundland’s resource governance operates as theatre: protecting appearances while leaving communities with empty hands. Read More...

Following a staged photo-op with SSHRC-backed researcher Nick Mercer, Newfoundland’s local resistance to industrial wind development fractures into infighting. This editorial unpacks how federal consultants exploit emotional divisions to construct curated opposition narratives, neutralizing dissent while capturing optics. Drawing from Van Assche’s "Local Paradox" theory, it reveals how narrative control replaces real governance in vulnerable communities. Read More...