Building Relationships Before Development: Free, Prior, and Informed Consent in the case of Group One West on Vancouver Island

This article analyses the relationship between ecological transition, tourism development, and Indigenous self-determination through the case of Group One West, an initiative currently underway on Vancouver Island that proposes to integrate tourism, research, energy production, agriculture, and territorial governance into a single socio-ecological transition process. The article adopts the principle of Free, Prior, and Informed Consent as an analytical perspective to interrogate not only the modalities of Indigenous participation, but above all the conditions under which it intervenes in the definition of a development project. In this way, FPIC is understood as a relational and political process, grounded in the recognition of First Nations’ authority over their territories, governance structures, protocols, and development priorities. Through the case of Group One West, the article highlights how FPIC is a principle capable of guiding the very architecture of development, through the involvement of Indigenous communities from the design stage.