{"id":16959,"date":"2026-07-14T12:08:49","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T16:08:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/transfertconsult.ca\/?post_type=blogue-expertise&#038;p=16959"},"modified":"2026-07-14T14:19:30","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T18:19:30","slug":"community-influence-regulation-science","status":"publish","type":"blogue-expertise","link":"https:\/\/transfertconsult.ca\/en\/blog-expertise\/community-influence-regulation-science\/","title":{"rendered":"Community Influence: When Regulation Catches Up With Science"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col-12 col-md-2 no-margin\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-15633\" src=\"https:\/\/transfertconsult.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/transfert-enviro_marc-olivier-fortin.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/div>\n<div class=\"col-12 col-md-10 no-margin\">\n<h4><a href=\"https:\/\/transfertconsult.ca\/en\/a-valuable-team\/marc-olivier-fortin\/\">Marc-Olivier Fortin<\/a><\/h4>\n<p>Partnership Development Director, co-author, Social Acceptability Barometer \u2013 Mining Sector<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<hr \/>\n<p>In Quebec, barely one citizen in four believes their community has any real capacity to influence mining industry decisions. Starting December 1st, 2026, demonstrating this influence will no longer be a best practice. It will be a requirement embedded in <a href=\"https:\/\/transfertconsult.ca\/en\/blog-expertise\/new-environmental-impact-assessment-and-review-process-eiarp-impacts-on-consultation-processes\/\">Quebec&#8217;s new Environmental Impact Assessment and Review Procedure (EIARP)<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>This tension between citizen perception and the new regulatory framework is exactly the kind of blind spot that the <a href=\"https:\/\/transfertconsult.ca\/en\/barometer\/\">Social Acceptability Barometer \u2013 Canadian Mining Sector<\/a> is designed to surface. Published in 2025 by Transfert Environnement et Soci\u00e9t\u00e9, in partnership with Voconiq, a research firm affiliated with Australia&#8217;s CSIRO and globally recognized in the field, the Barometer is the first pan-Canadian study to scientifically measure, data in hand, what builds or erodes citizen trust in the mining industry. The survey, conducted in the fall of 2025, draws on 4,811 analyzed questionnaires across every Canadian province, with targeted oversamples in mining and non-mining regions to enable rigorous comparisons.<\/p>\n<p>In the coming weeks, I\u2019d like to go back to basics with you and break down, one by one, the factors that influence trust in the mining sector in both Quebec and Canada. This is exactly what the Barometer\u2019s trust model highlights. Important note: this model varies from province to province. Each region has its own \u201crecipe\u201d for trust.<\/p>\n<p>In Quebec, trust and acceptability are based primarily on the following factors:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Community influence;<\/li>\n<li>Trust in regulations;<\/li>\n<li>Economic costs and benefits;<\/li>\n<li>The perceived need for new minerals that contribute to the energy transition;<\/li>\n<li>Personal values (in a negative sense);<\/li>\n<li>Attitudes toward gold mining.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>At the national level in Canada, there are common drivers, such as community resilience, regulation, and economic benefits, but also distinct factors, such as procedural fairness. This is a nuance I will explore throughout this series.<strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2>A central factor, and a marked Quebec gap<\/h2>\n<p>In Quebec, citizens&#8217; perception of their capacity to influence mining decisions is one of the strongest predictors of trust and acceptability, with a beta coefficient of 0.31 in our model. It is also one of the factors on which Quebec performs the worst in the country.<\/p>\n<p>When asked whether members of their community are able to ensure that the mining industry does what is right for the country, Quebec scores 2.70 on a 5-point Likert scale, the lowest of any province and below the Canadian average of 2.85. The pattern repeats when the question is narrowed to whether mining communities can influence the industry to do what is right for local communities: 2.95 in Quebec versus 3.10 elsewhere in the country.<\/p>\n<p>Even more revealing: even in Quebec&#8217;s mining regions, where one might expect a stronger sense of influence given the proximity to operations, the score drops to 2.90, below the provincial average. Elsewhere in Canada, mining regions reach 3.23.<\/p>\n<p>Proximity to industry alone is not enough to foster a sense of being able to collaborate with it in a sustainable and positive way.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The willingness of industry stakeholders to adopt a participatory approach with communities\u2014that is, to be open to their influence\u2014must be both felt and visible. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Worth noting: Indigenous respondents post significantly higher scores (3.25 and 3.37), among other things, this may suggest that where influence is structured through agreements and co-decision mechanisms, trust follows.<\/p>\n<h2>The regulation arrives exactly where the shoe pinches<\/h2>\n<p>The Barometer&#8217;s timing could not be better. As of December 1st, 2026, Quebec&#8217;s new Environmental Impact Assessment and Review Procedure (P\u00c9EIE) will fundamentally transform how project proponents must document their dialogue with communities.<\/p>\n<p>At the heart of the reform: an enhanced notice of intent that must include project alternatives (including those already discarded), the environmental and social issues raised or likely to be raised, and a proposed table of contents for the upcoming impact assessment. The BAPE will then organize a public information period as soon as that notice is filed, and its report, listing concerns whose relevance warrants further consideration, will be attached to the ministerial directive issued to the proponent. The proponent will, however, have to justify both the issues retained and those set aside in the impact assessment itself.<\/p>\n<h2>From best practice to regulatory deliverable<\/h2>\n<p>What this reform really introduces is regulatory traceability of community influence. Communities will no longer be consulted at the tail end of an already-finalized project. Their input will be documented in the authorization file itself.<\/p>\n<p>For companies that want to go beyond compliance, the question becomes concrete: <em>what was heard, what was changed, what was not, and why?<\/em> That feedback loop is what makes influence visible and credible.<\/p>\n<h2>Three levers for proponents who want to get ahead of the curve<\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>The documented feedback loop. <\/strong>Publicly account for how consultations have shaped project design and operational choices.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Co-construction of performance indicators. <\/strong>Engage stakeholders in defining the KPIs the company tracks. <em>What does the community want to see measured?<\/em> This approach enables adaptive management built on explicit indicators and defined intervention thresholds, and it has a direct effect on trust.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Municipality-mine roundtables. <\/strong>Periodic dialogue mechanisms, granted recognized legitimacy, to understand needs, define intervention conditions, and ensure transparent follow-up on how issues are addressed.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2>A paradigm shift<\/h2>\n<p>Mining projects that cannot demonstrate how community concerns have shaped their choices will find themselves weakened not only socially, but now administratively.<\/p>\n<h2>The social contract becomes a regulatory file<\/h2>\n<p>Building trust means moving from a reactive logic to a proactive management of social acceptability. In a world where information travels fast, good moves can travel as far as bad ones, provided they are documented. These efforts that may seem time- and energy-intensive are, in reality, a form of social risk management, the kind of risks capable, when poorly anticipated, of delaying or derailing a project.<\/p>\n<p>According to the Barometer, social issues weigh more heavily than environmental ones in shaping trust. The tool now allows us to measure them rigorously and to act where the impact will be greatest. In Quebec, community influence is among the priority levers. Starting December 1st, it will no longer be just a best practice. It will be a requirement of the new regulatory framework.<\/p>\n<h4><a href=\"https:\/\/transfertconsult.ca\/en\/a-valuable-team\/marc-olivier-fortin\/\">Marc-Olivier Fortin<\/a><\/h4>\n<p><strong>Partnership Development Director<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Marc-Olivier Fortin was both a Senior Advisor and Project Director at Transfert Environnement et Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 before becoming Partnership Development Director. He has over 10 years of experience as a leader in community relations, government relations, and business development. He has worked in both private and public organizations, gathering a wide range of experience.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Marc-Olivier Fortin Partnership Development Director, co-author, Social Acceptability Barometer \u2013 Mining Sector In Quebec, barely one citizen in four believes their community has any real capacity to influence mining industry decisions. Starting December 1st, 2026, demonstrating this influence will no longer be a best practice. It will be a requirement embedded in Quebec&#8217;s new Environmental&#8230; <br><a class=\"btn\" href=\"https:\/\/transfertconsult.ca\/en\/blog-expertise\/community-influence-regulation-science\/\">Voir l&#8217;article<\/a>","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":16962,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[326,325],"class_list":["post-16959","blogue-expertise","type-blogue-expertise","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog-categories","category-blogue-expertise-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/transfertconsult.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blogue-expertise\/16959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/transfertconsult.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blogue-expertise"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/transfertconsult.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/blogue-expertise"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transfertconsult.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transfertconsult.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16959"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transfertconsult.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/transfertconsult.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transfertconsult.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}