4) IMPACT ASSESSMENT: Before any decision can be taken by the community to
consider the proposed activity, a social and environmental impact assessment
must be carried out with participation from Village members (as agreed upon in
the consultation plan). After the completed environmental and social impact
assessment report is given to the Village, the Village may seek an independent
expert
to
help
review
the
findings
of
the
assessment.
5) VILLAGE GENERAL MEETING: After the environmental and social impact
assessment is complete, and having all the relevant information, the Village
needs to meet a minimum of one time before we will decide: 1) if we will say
“no” to the Project (in which case, we go to Step 8); 2) if we will say “yes” to the
Project, “but” with certain conditions attached (in which case, we go to Step 6);
or 3) if we will say “yes” to the Project (in which case, we go to Step 6).
6) MEETING TO INFORM PROJECT PROPONENT: If the Village decides through our
agreed decision-making process that we are interested in continuing talks with
the Project Proponent, a meeting should be organised with the Proponent where
the Village will set out the conditions on which it will consider entering into an
agreement. An agreement can be negotiated in this meeting or, if time does not
allow, a separate meeting must be set up to do this.
7) AGREEMENT: An agreement signed by the Village and the Project Proponent
must contain information including, but not limited to:
a. The duration of the agreement;
b. Benefit-sharing;
c. Periodic assessments of the progress of the project and its
implementation;
d. The contact person(s) (or a council or committee) in the Village for this
Agreement;
e. How implementation will be monitored and how Village representatives
will be involved in this;
f. How the Village can raise complaints about non-compliance; how
disputes will be resolved; and how our Village can seek recourse if we
are of the opinion that our right to FPIC (e.g., continuing consultations)
has been violated;
g. What steps should be taken if the agreement is not upheld by either
party;
h. What breach of the agreement will qualify for its termination;
i. What steps must be taken to amend the agreement.
8) IF NO AGREEMENT: If the Village decides through our internal decision-making
process that we do not want to enter into an agreement about the proposed
activity, our “no” must be respected and captured in a document that is kept in
the Village records. This document shall contain a list of the reasons why the
Village said “no” to this project. The Village will request that the Project
Proponent sign this document to acknowledge this decision and will give the
Project Proponent a copy of this document.
Bethany Village FPIC Protocol
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