A development policy provides guidelines for all sorts of unforeseen circumstances. It sets out the approach for investigating natural resource development whether it is happening near your reserve or whether you are looking into development of your own. It provides for informed decisions on all aspects of development that affect your community and helps maintain a focus on your priorities for investment of both time and money.

A development policy not only provides direction in dealing with the unexpected, it is its own road map, guiding those who will be implementing it on behalf of your community.

It helps to establish:

• the terms, conditions and limits of development;

• the extent to which economic development is a community priority;

• which development projects to study first; and

• how to reconcile economic interests with environmental, social, cultural and traditional ones.

A written community development policy may prevent misunderstandings later on. It should also be developed through community participation. If your band members have been consulted on its formation, they are more likely to approve of and support it.

Major Off-Reserve Projects in the Development Policy

A "major" project, for our purposes, is defined as one big enough for project developers to be willing to customize their development activities to the needs of First Nations. This means that the development would be carried out according to First Nation specifications. Typically, the capital costs of a major project exceed $10 million. It might be a pulp and paper mill, an oil refinery, a tar sand plant, a pipeline, a highway, a hydro-electric installation, a mine, a golf course, a hotel or a cottage development.

Whatever the project, if it's on your doorstep, it will certainly have an impact on your community in some way. With a development policy already in place, you will have a head start in planning how to respond. The policy will provide the structure for:

• a pre-development information gathering system;

• benefit and cost assessments;

• decisions on what development activity you want to support, change or oppose;

• how to influence the course of the project;

• how to deal with the possible effects of the project on your community; and

• how to negotiate, design and implement an agreement with the project developer.

Advance Planning

Your first step is to set up a process for identifying proposed or planned projects in your vicinity. Don't depend on the rumour mill: it usually alarms without foundation. Establish an "early warning system" which could include a number of sources to monitor for signs of proposed development activity.

• Keep in touch with personnel of major development companies in your area to hear about anything on the horizon.
• Watch the newspapers for announcements of federal and provincial energy and environmental board review hearings and resource development articles. Talk to the journalists who wrote them.
• Major project applications are reviewed by such regulatory organizations as the National Energy Board, provincial energy boards and federal and provincial environmental bodies. Check their reports.
• Canvass local and other politicians for advance information and notification of pending projects.
• Monitor national major project data bases, such as the Canadian Capital Projects data base, published quarterly by Informetrica Limited, P.O. Box 828, Station B, Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5P9.

Even with such an early warning system in place, off-reserve development can still catch you unaware. A development policy allows you to react fast. Even if it's too late to become involved in the initial planning stages of the project, you can still influence its later planning and construction progress.

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