According to the Indian Act of 1876, the Canadian government has control of  “aboriginal life: Indian status, land, resources, wills, education, band administration and so on.” Given this fact, a company that is granted authorization by the Canadian government should be able to freely operate its business despite the location.

In Quebec, the Atikamekw First Nation band is accusing Canadian forestry companies, Resolute Forest Products, Kruger and Tembec for not respecting the terms and complying environmental guidelines. For this reason, the Atikamekw First Nation band requires that all companies that wish to resume forestry work must be re-certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. One of the components for the certification is to obtain approval or consent from the indigenous nation. Because the Atikamekw First Nation never granted approval for those companies to the “massive exploitation of forestry resources”, Awashish, an Atikamekw Chief, calls to suspend any company that does not follow the guidelines. This would mean huge financial and client loss for the forestry companies.

On the other hand, a spokesperson for the forestry company claims that the Canadian government “is responsible for consulting the native groups”, rather than the company.

This article illustrates the complex relationship among companies, the Canadian government, and the aboriginal community. For this particular reason, this macroeconomic factor (natural resources on First Nations land), leads to political uncertainty that requires government resolution becomes a burden for Canadian businesses.