At Cameco, we not only prioritize engagement with local indigenous communities, but have put plans in place to ensure we maximize indigenous inclusion within our operations.
While indigenous engagement is both a practical necessity and a corporate competitive advantage for Cameco, we believe that indigenous inclusion across the company will only strengthen the partnerships we’ve built over the years. We believe that indigenous communities should benefit from resource development on or near their traditional lands through employment, training, business opportunities and environmental stewardship.
More about our commitment to indigenous engagement in Canada
Cameco will:
- do business in a way that recognizes and respects the rights and interests of indigenous communities
- seek to raise its awareness of traditional land use and knowledge
- recognize and respect traditional land use and knowledge, as much as reasonably possible
- consult and collaborate with indigenous communities to make sure we’re aware of any negative effect our proposed activities might have on their rights and interests so we can work to avoid or mitigate those impacts
- collaborate with indigenous communities, businesses and community members to identify potential employment and contracting opportunities
- continue to identify and pursue opportunities to invest in indigenous communities
- where reasonable, require Cameco contractors and suppliers to undertake specific measures or activities to support our indigenous engagement policy
Challenges
For nearly 30 years, Cameco has been working with indigenous peoples primarily in northern Saskatchewan, but also in Ontario, Wyoming, Nebraska and, most recently, Australia. Our goal is to provide:
- a sustainable benefit through employment, education and training
- opportunities to develop business capacity and commercial entities
- robust community engagement, participation and understanding of our environmental and safety programs
- strategic community investments that will continue to deliver benefits long after mineral resources are depleted
The support of indigenous peoples for our operations has helped us become a world leader in the uranium industry and expand our operations into jurisdictions like Australia. Despite these successes, however, challenges persist. They include:
Meeting the needs and expectations of communities – We believe it is reasonable, fair and appropriate for indigenous peoples and communities to share in the benefits of resource development on and near traditional lands. In many indigenous communities near our operations, there is a large and growing need for employment and training, infrastructure and support for a variety of programming due to a lack of economic opportunities outside our industry. However, the gap between what Cameco can provide in socioeconomic benefits and what communities need and expect continues to grow. This provides a unique challenge and opportunity for Cameco, so we work with local communities to develop new and innovative ways to meet the needs and expectations of communities.
Access to lands – We rely on the participation and support of indigenous communities for access to the land and mineral resources that are essential to our business. In some cases, communities hold tenure rights to lands under indigenous title or land claim agreements.
Achieving prescribed targets under mineral surface leases – The recommendations of a 1997 joint federal-provincial panel on uranium mining developments in northern Saskatchewan led to changes to mineral surface leases, requiring companies to meet prescribed targets for northern hiring and procurement. The 67% northern employment target has been difficult to achieve as Cameco’s mines and mills are mature operations with high retention rates among our indigenous employees, in a region where employment opportunities are few. While we have been successful in filling entry-level positions with northerners, our challenge now is to advance northerners into technical and supervisory roles in order to increase our overall totals.
Changing legal landscape – In Canada and elsewhere, indigenous rights continue to evolve and be confirmed. In 2004, court decisions identified the Crown’s duty to consult, leading to new provincial and federal frameworks for assessing the impacts of resource development activities on aboriginal and treaty rights. Canadian federal and provincial governments have a constitutional obligation to consult First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples before they make decisions about projects or activities (including our projects and activities) that may affect the ability of these groups to exercise treaty or aboriginal rights, and if necessary to require that a project or activity proceed differently. In Canada, the federal government has signalled it will implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. This has created a new discussion within indigenous communities and the federal government on how to implement items such as free, prior and informed consent.
Anti-resource development movement in indigenous communities – Many indigenous communities, or individuals therein, have adopted an anti-resource development stance, in some cases, because they believe they have not been properly consulted, or, in others, because they believe the projects will impede their traditional ways of life. In Canada, this anti-resource development movement has led to a uranium mining moratorium in northern Quebec, a fracking ban in New Brunswick, as well as the stalling of several pipeline projects across the country.
N. Saskatchewan procurement
299
million
Support for Cameco in northern Saskatchewan
81
%
Taking Action
In order to meet the challenges we face engaging indigenous peoples, Cameco has created strategies, programs and policies designed to work with and advance the interests of indigenous people. They include:
Five-pillar corporate responsibility strategy
This strategy is the foundation for building and sustaining relationships everywhere we operate, but particularly with indigenous communities near our operations. Developed in northern Saskatchewan, we have also exported this strategy to other areas where we operate, including Australia. Our goals are to develop and maintain long-term relationships and provide communities with employment and business development opportunities and capacity building. The five pillars are:
1. Workforce development – The goal of our workforce development program is to ensure local employment opportunities are provided to local community members. To achieve this, we strive to ensure students stay in school, have the means to attend post-secondary programs, and receive the training they need to advance if we hire them. We have developed a large suite of programs in northern Saskatchewan to help community members obtain employment in our industry and to help us meet our surface lease commitments.
More about our workforce development programs in northern Saskatchewan
In northern Saskatchewan, Cameco has developed a series of programs to help build knowledge and practical skills among northern Saskatchewan residents who want to work in our industry. We encourage northern students to stay in school, provide financial support for their post-secondary education, and deliver practical, work-based training to the northerners we hire.
Our programs include:
- Academic awards and scholarships for students
- Athabasca Education Awards – a monetary award and gift for students in Grades 7-12 for high achievement in a variety of subjects
- Cameco Corporation Scholarship for First Nation and Métis Students – in partnership with Indspire, this scholarship provides financial assistance to northern indigenous students, as well as networking and mentoring opportunities
- Cameco Aboriginal Scholarship in Business – recognizes and promotes excellence among indigenous students who have completed the second or third year of their program in pursuit of a bachelor of commerce degree at the University of Saskatchewan
- Bernard Michel Scholarship – provides support for a Saskatchewan indigenous student entering their second or third year of study within the College of Engineering or College of Arts & Science
- Apprenticeship programs and work placements
- Cameco’s Apprenticeship Program – designed to increase the success rate of candidates entering trade programs. Includes workplace education, aptitude testing and academic assessments
- Work Placements – one, two or three-week visits for students attending designated training programs in Saskatchewan
- Cameco Summer Student Program – provides real world work experience to high school, university and technical institute students. Students work in a variety of areas, with the goal being to supplement their education and create interest in future work in the uranium mining industry
- School presentations and ambassador programs
- School Presentations and Career Days – in-school presentations where we encourage kids to stay in school and complete Grade 12, while promoting science, math and mining-related occupations
- Science Ambassador Program – places graduate and senior undergraduate university students in northern schools with high indigenous enrolment for six weeks. Ambassadors assist teachers, act as role models and expose students to science-based career options
- Career development
- Career Transition Program – helps high-potential northerners who have some post-secondary or technical certification obtain a college diploma or university degree in a mining-related profession. A key goal of this program is to increase the representation of RSNs in professional occupations and managerial roles at Cameco
- Career Compass – a career management program focused on helping employees grow their careers within Cameco
- Northern Workforce Skills Assessment Program – provides skills assessment and counselling to northerners interested in working for Cameco
- Workplace Education Program – gives employees and contractors online access to instructors from Northlands College and other resources to help them with their apprenticeship or university coursework, prepar
- Counselling and wellness
- Elder Advisors – elder advisors work on site at our northern operations twice a week, providing traditional support and counsel to employees before and after their shifts.
- Employee and Family Assistance Program – counselling, e-learning and wellness information for Cameco employees working in remote locations.
2. Business development – we use our best efforts to procure the majority of our operational services from local businesses. Since 2004, we’ve procured over $3.2 billion (or 73% of our total) in services from northern Saskatchewan businesses alone, but have also seen impressive results in other jurisdictions like Ontario and Kazakhstan. In northern Saskatchewan, we have developed initiatives like our northern preferred supplier program and direct source strategy to help support local businesses.
5. Environmental stewardship – we actively encourage local communities to participate in the environmental assessment process and ongoing environmental monitoring activities. In northern Saskatchewan, programs that support our environmental stewardship goals include the Athabasca Working Group, Northern Saskatchewan Environmental Quality Committee and project-specific engagement programs. We also meet with individuals, including local trappers and communities to assess the importance of traditional activities in relation to mining activities.
Community based agreements
In order to solidify our relationships with indigenous communities, we have entered into a number of agreements designed to codify the socioeconomic benefits they receive from us, as well as our responsibilities to those communities. These agreements include:
1. Collaboration Agreements with English River First Nation and the Metis Community of Pinehouse – Signed in 2012 and 2013, these agreements establish a framework and guiding principles for long-term working relationships. The agreements include how we’ll invest in, support and engage with the communities, including specific promises around community investment, business and workforce development. The agreements also outline how we’ll operate, balancing commercial demands with traditional needs, land use rights and environmental stewardship. Finally, the agreements outline how the communities will support our operations as long as Cameco meets its obligations to consult and engage, as defined in the agreement. We expect more agreements like these to be signed with other northern Saskatchewan communities in the coming years. For full details on the Pinehouse agreement, please visit this website.
2. Impact Management Agreement with the Dene Communities of the Athabasca Basin – Cameco signed an Impact Management Agreement with the communities of the Athabasca Basin in 1999, including the Black Lake and Fond du Lac Denesuline First Nations and four local northern municipalities (Hatchet Lake Denesuline Nation has also participated in programming implementation, but was not a signatory). This agreement provides the communities with workforce development and dedicated engagement programs, community investment funding, and mechanisms to collaborate around environmental stewardship (i.e. the creation of the Athabasca Working Group monitoring program).
3. Indigenous Land Use Agreement with the Martu of Western Australia – Signed in 2012 with the traditional Kintyre landowners, the Martu, this agreement provides training, employment and business opportunities to the local communities in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. While the project is still at the evaluation stage, we continue to build capacity among local people and businesses for the future.
4. Trappers Compensation Agreements in Northern Saskatchewan – These agreements are between Cameco and several trappers in northern Saskatchewan who continue to trap on or near our operating sites. These agreements encourage trappers to continue trapping, and provide them with a yearly cash distribution and, for some, an allotment of fuel.
5. Memorandum of Understanding with the Mississauga First Nation – A signed memorandum of understanding with the Mississauga First Nation (MFN) related to Cameco’s Blind River refinery in Ontario, this agreement commits MFN and Blind River to working together cooperatively for their mutual benefit. It focuses primarily on socio-economic development projects related to youth, education, health and wellness, and community development.
