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Ikata Project, Northern Province, Canada (A and B) (The)
Case 9 100 2013 002A-B
Languages : 
  • English
Keywords: 
  • Social acceptability,
  • Legacy issues,
  • Community relations,
  • Stakeholders
Year of production : 
2013
Registration date : 
2013-11-25
Teaching notes included : 
No
Case document count : 
2
Abstract

The Ikata area is located in the western region of the Northern Province, Canada. This area has been inhabited for centuries by around 200 people from the Hisala Nation and 500 from the Chisala Nation. In the 1940s, the government of the Northern Province considered exploiting metal ore and hydro power to industrialize the region. The very promising results of the provincial government’s feasibility evaluations led the International Corporation to take an interest in the economic potential of the area in a context of high demand for its industrial products in the post-war reconstruction era. The Ikata project met with mixed success. On the one hand, the International Corporation invested significant amounts in infrastructures that were non-existent in the 1950s and the project contributed to the development of the overall regional economy. On the other hand, the project caused the flooding of the Chisala First Nation's land, forcing them to leave their territory and ways of life on two-week notice with very little financial compensation. In the 1980s, the International Corporation announced its intention to complete the Ikata 2 project, which became controversial for several reasons. First, the Northern Province government’s exemption of the Ikata completion project from an environmental review outraged the local community (farmers, trappers, municipalities, First Nations, and the population in general). This brought major provincial and national media attention to the area and to the Corporation. Second, the First Nations started to question the events that had occurred three decades ago. Since 2011, the International Corporation has been working to rebuild trust with local stakeholders.

Primary domain : 
Business ethics  - Corporate social responsibility
Secondary domain : 
Management  - Strategy
Sectors : 
  • Energy and raw materials
Source : 
HEC Montréal
Type : 
Brief case (Descriptive or analytical case)
Type of data used in the production of the case : 
Fictional data inspired by real-life situations, but significantly transformed
Event location : 
Northern Canada
Year of start of the event : 
1950
Year the event ended : 
2011
Business size : 
Multinational
Main themes covered
  • Social acceptability;
  • Stakeholders;
  • Community relations;
  • Legacy issues
Teaching objectives

This case is designed to facilitate a group discussion about corporate-community relations and stakeholder management. The case can be used to raise awareness about the importance for companies to be proactive in managing community relations and the corporate risks of not doing so.

Concepts and theories related to the case
  • Social acceptability/social license to operate
  • Corporate-community issues
  • Stakeholder management Legacy issues