Co-management has existed in Canada since 1978. Parks Canada first used the term for the management of national parks on land claimed by indigenous peoples. This was then included in all land claims agreements that were signed in the north. In fact, this began with the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement, which included co-management bodies. Since then, all agreements have included the co-management of land and natural resources. It is a model that has existed for a very long time.
Obviously, this model is used more in the north, but it is used elsewhere as well. I gave the example of the management council for the Moisie River, or the Mishta-shipu. The purpose of this council, which operated for five or six years, was to resolve a conflict with salmon fishing. However, there was also a very serious conflict involving the death of two Innu people. The community had always believed that they were killed by fisheries officers. It was an underlying conflict. Many Innu fishers were trying to regain control of the salmon and the activities of the clubs, among other things. Finally, they settled on this solution because they had to make space for Innu subsistence fishing, even though the Moisie River was used entirely by public and private clubs. The solution was arrived at with the help of the Quebec government in the late 1990s. This made it possible to resolve a conflict.
I worked on this when writing my doctoral thesis. There are many examples where co-management has solved conflicts related to resource management and access. I am thinking in particular of the Beverly and Qamanirjuaq Caribou Management Board. There was an example in Kénogami also.
This model works well, but it is not perfect. Clearly, it always takes goodwill. Co-management works just like any entity created by people: it requires the will to work together to find solutions together. The advantage of this formula is that it brings together in one room all the people involved and forces them to find solutions. Naturally, this takes time. In any event, in the case of a conflict like the current one involving the Mi'Kmaq, co-management would result in solutions.
When I talk about co-management, I am not talking about consultation. Fisheries and Oceans Canada has many consultative bodies that are in contact with the users of the resource, such as commercial fishers. On the North Shore, the Innu are among them. However, only recommendations are made to Fisheries and Oceans Canada. With co-management there is real influence and the opportunity to take action. Sometimes recommendations are all that comes of it, but they are made directly to the Minister and not to an official. In some cases, a decision is made. There are a number of co-management committees in Canada that decide how resources are shared. There is one in Nunavut working on wildlife management and it has the authority to make decisions.
This exists in Canada and, therefore, we can find solutions. There are many models. In fact, this does not exist in Canada alone. Co-management is used a great deal by the state and local populations in Africa, for example, to manage protected areas. It is a model that works. There are no guarantees. However, if you are asking for my opinion, based on my experience I would say that it makes it possible to sometimes resolve difficult conflicts.