Indigenous self-government in the Northwest Territories in Canada: Political Negotiations between Native communities, government, and multinational diamond mining companies

For many decades, the Northwest Territories were simply regarded by the Canadian government as barren land. Only with the discovery of mineral deposits that could be mined for gold and, after 1990, for the extraction of diamonds, did the government and the multinational mining corporations create agreements with the Indigenous communities for the use of these lands. This research aims to understand the negotiation process that the Dene and Tłı̨ chǫ Indigenous communities have established with the government and the mining industries. Through a review of the regulations of the Indian reserves in the Northwest Territories, this study analyses specific agreements, called Impact and Benefit Agreements, between the mining corporations and the Native groups