GBA+ lens Inclusion in Impacts Assessment

The Temiskaming Native Womens Support Group is contributing to the comment submissions for Marathon Palladium Project to call attention to gendered impacts of large scale industrial projects and to amplify the voices Indigenous Women and Gender diverse peoples.

In regard to the Marathon Palladium Project there has been various concerns with Indigenous Womens rights to participate in the process in a meaningful way. Whether that be due to capacity issues, adequate access to technology, location, Covid19 and/or Socioeconomic Barriers.

Indigenous Women and Gender Diverse people are significantly impacted with the day-to-day activities of industry. The land surrounding this specific project is sacred to the Indigenous women and gender diverse people and the important roles they carry within their culture. It is a long-standing cultural practice that Indigenous women are water keepers. This project has potential for extreme impacts on various bodies of water. There are locations where toxins coming from the Marathon Mine could enter the Lake Superior basin. Other areas of concern are Hare Creek which drains into a large area including Hare and Bamoos Lake.  

The Impact Assessment Agency processes on their website to formally submit a comment are difficult to navigate for the average user. Reason for concern is that not all Indigenous women and gender diverse people have the capacity to submit a comment with their concerns and knowledge of impacts from this project. However, the ministry decision to extend the deadline for comment submissions was a good step in reconciliation. The timelines imposed by federal guidelines are strict and do not allow for enough time to process information and read through the technical reports thoroughly for the average citizen and every effort to extend submission deadlines to include communities is necessary and valuable.

In reflecting on the MMIWG Calls to Justice and the influx of traffic and people this project will bring increases the potential for social impacts on Indigenous Women this project, including raising the risk of women experiencing sexual violence or human trafficking. There is also the risk of increased exposure to substances and criminal activity (Manning, S. et. Al. 2018). Additional social impacts that Indigenous Women face is lack of access to affordable and safe housing due to the economical need to draw in additional workers into the region therefore driving the prices for housing up and taking up space in community for workers who do not live in camps.  

Gender Based Analysis (GBA+) should be applied to the Marathon palladium and other similar projects with significant and far-reaching impacts to communities. When considering impacts in this assessment we call upon authorities and proponents to pay special attention to socioeconomic impacts this project may cause. ‘GBA+ is not a prescribed method but a way of thinking or a lens’ in this regard, significant attention must be paid to issues of sex and gender impacts that consider issues beyond limiting project impacts scope to ecological knowledge frameworks (Hoogeveen, D.; et. Al. 2020).  

In solidarity,

Invitation to Voices Project Team

References  

Hoogeveen, D., Gislason, M., Hussey, A., Western, S., & Williams, A. (2020). Gender based analysis plus: A knowledge synthesis for the implementation and development of socially responsible impact assessment in canada. (Government).Simon Fraser University. Retrieved from https://ecohealthknowledgetoaction.files.wordpress.com/2020/07/gender-based-analysis-plus-a-knowledge-synthesis-for-the-implementation-and-development-of-socially-responsible-impact-assessment-in-canada.pdf. (GBA+)  

Manning, S., Nash, P., Levac, L., Steinstra, D., & Stinson, J. (2018). Strenthening impact assessments for indigenous women. (). Canadian Institute for the Advancement of Women: Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency. . (Impact Assessment; Indigenous Women: GBA+)