Shifting the Burden: Corporate Indigenous Relations and How They Can Go Wrong
Abstract
:1. Introduction
Statement of Positionality
for any complex problem to be solved, the individual players all need to recognize how they unwittingly contribute to it. Once they understand their own responsibility for a problem, they can begin by changing the part of the system over which they have the greatest control: themselves … the greatest opportunities for lasting change arise when all the players reflect on and shift their own intentions, assumptions, and behavior[2] (pp. 25–26)
2. Background Literature Review
2.1. Social Innovation and Resilience
2.2. Systems-Based Approaches to Social Change
2.3. Indigenous Peoples and the Canadian Mining Industry
3. Research Design and Methods
3.1. The Case Study
3.2. The Co-Reclamation Project: The Reclamation and Closure of Alberta Oil Sands Projects in the Fort McKay Traditional Territory in Treaty 8
3.3. Methods
4. Results
4.1. The Shifting the Burden Archetype
4.2. Shifting the Burden: The Basic Archetype (See Figure 3)
4.3. Shifting the Burden: The Policy Window Opens (See Figure 4)
4.4. Shifting the Burden: The Policy Window Closes (Figure 5)
5. Discussion
Beyond the Policy Window
6. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
Abbreviations
IK | Indigenous knowledge |
TLU | Traditional land use |
CEMA | Cumulative Environmental Management Association |
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McCarthy, D.D.P.; Daly, C.A.; Davies Post, A.; Donald, G.; L’Hommecourt, J.; Arrobo, B.; Hill, G. Shifting the Burden: Corporate Indigenous Relations and How They Can Go Wrong. Systems 2025, 13, 452. https://doi.org/10.3390/systems13060452
McCarthy DDP, Daly CA, Davies Post A, Donald G, L’Hommecourt J, Arrobo B, Hill G. Shifting the Burden: Corporate Indigenous Relations and How They Can Go Wrong. Systems. 2025; 13(6):452. https://doi.org/10.3390/systems13060452
Chicago/Turabian StyleMcCarthy, Daniel D. P., Christine A. Daly, Alexandra Davies Post, Gillian Donald, Jean L’Hommecourt, Bori Arrobo, and Gregory Hill. 2025. "Shifting the Burden: Corporate Indigenous Relations and How They Can Go Wrong" Systems 13, no. 6: 452. https://doi.org/10.3390/systems13060452
APA StyleMcCarthy, D. D. P., Daly, C. A., Davies Post, A., Donald, G., L’Hommecourt, J., Arrobo, B., & Hill, G. (2025). Shifting the Burden: Corporate Indigenous Relations and How They Can Go Wrong. Systems, 13(6), 452. https://doi.org/10.3390/systems13060452