39-4 Tradition Informing Our Futures

“Imagine you’re about to have a little one, the love that you have for that little one... and then imagine somebody outside of your family you don’t even know making claims on your little one. They don’t like the way you live and they’re going to take your little one by force. Imagine what the loss is when this is not just your family, but your entire community loses its children.” — gkisedtanamoogk, Truth and Reconciliation Commission member in the documentary film First Light 

A dirt road leads deep into a thick forest of pine and spruce some 25 miles west of the small town of Jokkmokk, in Norrbotten County, in Sweden’s far north. Beard lichen, an indicator of the pure air quality, hangs thickly from the branches while Siberian and Eurasian jays dart between the trees harboring a bounty of berries.

Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) is an emerging international standard for companies that interact with Indigenous Peoples. Closely tied to the concepts of tribal sovereignty and self-determination, FPIC is designed to replace the processes that historically excluded tribes from decision-making related to activities taking place on or near their land. Many entities, particularly in the extractive industries, have established their own protocols for interacting with Indigenous Peoples, but few FPIC protocols have been developed by Indigenous Peoples themselves.