#29. Require fair share agreements between mining firms and Indigenous and Northern communities to localize the economic benefits of mining projects
Governments must draw links between significant upstream industrial development projects and local job growth, skills training, revenue sharing and community and infrastructure development in Indigenous and Northern communities. Promoting and brokering the negotiation of fair share agreements between developers and Indigenous and Northern communities is one tool to maximize local benefits and can work in tandem with incentive-based programs to promote new Indigenous-led start-ups and Indigenous ownership of local suppliers. Such agreements can contain revenue sharing commitments with Indigenous Band Councils and local governments along with local hiring requirements, contracts with local Indigenous businesses and suppliers. These may also include commitments to empower local and Indigenous community oversight of a project’s environmental standards as well as co-ownership through equity shares.