Forest Lands and Resources for Aboriginal People: An Intervenor Submission to the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples [National Aboriginal Forestry Association, NAFA]

The objective of this submission is to provide the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples with analyses and options to overcome the inaccessibility to land and resources. Access to forest land resources could be achievable in several forms ranging through outright ownership, special long-term Aboriginal tenures, resource harvesting leases under existing provincial tenure systems, cooperative or joint management agreements, and decision-making or advisory roles in resource management and environmental assessment processes on traditional-use territories. Not only should it be possible to increase the effective land base of many communities, but it should be possible to minimize the negative effects of industrial development on Aboriginal peoples' traditional use areas.