Indigenous communities and the mental health impacts of land dispossession related to industrial resource development: a systematic review

Globally, many resource extraction projects such as mines and hydroelectric dams are developed on the territories of Indigenous Peoples. Recognising land as a determinant of Indigenous Peoples' health, our objective is to synthesise evidence about the mental health impacts on Indigenous communities who experience land dispossession due to industrial resource development (mining, hydroelectric, petroleum, and agricultural). We systematically reviewed studies that focused on Indigenous land dispossession in Australia, Aotearoa (New Zealand), North and South America, and the Circumpolar North. We searched Scopus, Medline, Embase, PsycINFO, and Global Health on OVID for peer-reviewed articles published in English from database inception to Dec 31, 2020. We also searched for books, research reports, and scholarly journals specialising in Indigenous health or Indigenous research. We included documents that reported on primary research, focused on Indigenous Peoples in settler colonial states, and reported on mental health and industrial resource development. Of the 29 included studies, 13 were related to hydroelectric dams, 11 to petroleum developments, nine to mining, and two to agriculture. Land dispossession due to industrial resource development had predominantly negative mental health impacts on Indigenous communities. The impacts were consequences of colonial relations that threatened Indigenous identities, resources, languages, traditions, spirituality, and ways of life. Health impact assessment processes in industrial resource development must expressly consider risks and potential impacts on mental health and respect Indigenous rights by making knowledge about mental health risks a central component to decisions about free, prior, and informed consent.

How Did the Media Report the Mining Industry's Initial Response to COVID-19 in Inuit Nunangat? A Newspaper Review

Mining in Inuit Nunangat relies on a southern Canada fly-in/fly-out (FIFO) and local workforce. The FIFO workforce, combined with existing social determinants of health, can create health risks to Inuit Nunangat. These risks were increased with COVID-19. As newspaper reporting can shape public opinion and policy actions regarding these COVID-19 risks, we systematically searched databases to identify newspaper articles during the initial phase of COVID-19 (i.e., articles published from 1 January to 30 June 2020). Descriptive statistics and qualitative thematic analysis were used to analyze the nature, range, and extent of included articles. Most included articles were published by Inuit Nunangat-based newspapers. Half the sources quoted were mining companies and most reported reactions to their initial response were negative. The most frequent topic was concern that an infected FIFO employee could transmit COVID-19 to a worksite and subsequently infect Inuit employees and communities. Inuit Nunangat-based newspapers were crucial in shaping the narrative of the initial response. National newspapers mainly focused on the takeover of TMAC™ during the pandemic, while Inuit Nunangat-based newspapers provided timely and locally-relevant pandemic information. Without Inuit Nunangat-based newspapers, the reporting would be from national and southern newspapers, which was less in-depth, less frequent, and less relevant to Inuit.

"All the problems in the community are multifaceted and related to each other": Inuit concerns in an era of climate change

OBJECTIVE

Human dimensions of climate change research in the Arctic often proposes ways for local communities to adapt to changes to their environment, foregrounding problems posed by climate change while treating social, political, and economic factors as background conditions. We explore the relevance of this research paradigm for Inuit by examining how Inuit from Kangiqsujuaq present and discuss the major issues facing their community.

METHODS

We thematically code and analyze the responses of 107 Inuit to three free-response questions about the problems facing their community and the best things about their community. The data were collected as part of a questionnaire for a project focused on food security and food sharing conducted in Kangiqsujuaq, Nunavik, in 2013 to 2014.

RESULTS

Few respondents mentioned issues relating to climate change among the most pressing problems faced by their community. Rather, a suite of interconnected social and economic issues, particularly substance abuse and the cost of living, emerged as the main concerns of Kangiqsujuarmiut. However, the environment was a central theme in respondents' favorite thing about their community.

CONCLUSIONS

In light of the concerns identified by Inuit, we argue that much research on climate change makes incorrect a priori assumptions and consequently fails to capture aspects of Arctic socioecological systems that are essential for how Inuit are responding to climate change. An inductive, open-ended approach can help produce research more relevant to communities.

Disentangling Benefit-Sharing Complexities of Oil Extraction on the North Slope of Alaska

This paper analyses benefit-sharing arrangements between oil companies, native corporations, the North Slope Borough, and Indigenous Peoples in Alaska. It aims to disentangle the complexities of benefit-sharing to understand existing procedural and distributive equity. We identified benefit-sharing regimes involving modes, principles, and mechanisms of benefit-sharing. This includes modes that reflect institutionalized interactions, such as paternalism, company centered social responsibility (CCSR), partnership, and shareholders. Principles can be based on compensation, investment and charity. Mechanisms can involve negotiated benefits and structured benefits, mandated by legislation, contracts, or regulation. Furthermore, mechanisms can involve semi-formal and trickle-down benefits. Trickle-down benefits come automatically to the community along with development. The distribution of money by the North Slope Borough represents the paternalistic mode, yet involves investment and mandated principles with top–down decision making. They are relatively high in distributional equity and low in participatory equity. Native corporations predominantly practice the shareholders’ mode, investment principle, and mandated mechanisms. The oil companies’ benefit-sharing represents a mixed type combining CCSR and partnership modess, several principles (investment, compensatory, charity) and multiple types of mechanisms, such as mandated, negotiated, semi-formal and trickle-down. These arrangements vary in terms of distributive equity, and participatory equity is limited.