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Home > Journal > Advance publication

Canadian Experience with Social Licence to Operate

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R.J. Harrison, Q.C.
R.J. Harrison, Q.C.

Published 5 September 2019

Abstract

In just a few years, the concept of ‘social licence to operate’ has emerged as the dominant consideration in the review of proposed resource development projects in Canada. ‘No social licence’ has become an effective rallying cry of project opponents in blocking individual developments. Surprisingly, the concept has also been adopted to some extent by industry and governments. Notwithstanding its pervasive role in public discourse on resource development, however, the concept has no agreed meaning and, more seriously, threatens the rule of law by insisting that the outcomes of structured, duly-authorized legal processes have no validity unless they have also acquired social licence. Adherents insist that regulators themselves, in addition to being duly authorized, must acquire social licence to regulate. The article notes that the concept of social licence to operate originated (coincidentally, with a Canadian connection) in very different circumstances from those in which it is now being embraced in Canada. 

This paper will be part of the OGEL Special Issue on "Social Licence to Operate (SLO) in the Extractive and Energy Sectors". More information here www.ogel.org/news.asp?key=571

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Suggested Citation

R.J. Harrison, Q.C. (2019, forthcoming) "Canadian Experience with Social Licence to Operate"
(OGEL, ISSN 1875-418X) September 2019, www.ogel.org

"Advance publication" is the name given to material that is published ahead of its appearance in a regular structured issue of our Journal. It is also possible to monitor this via RSS. Subscribers will receive update alerts via e-mail of the published articles as soon as they have been added to the website.

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