Sensitising Green Criminology to Procedural Environmental Justice: A Case Study of First Nation Consultation in the Canadian Oil Sands

Heydon, James

Abstract

Procedural environmental justice refers to fairness in processes of decision-making. It recognises that environmental victimisation, while an injustice in and of itself, is usually underpinned by unjust deliberation procedures. Although green criminology tends to focus on the former—distributional dimension of environmental justice—this article draws attention to its procedural counterpart. In doing so, it demonstrates how the notions of justice-as-recognition and justice-as-participation are jointly manifested within its conceptual boundaries. This is done by using the consultation process that occurs with indigenous peoples on proposed oil sands projects in Northern Alberta, Canada, as a case study. Drawing from ‘elite’ interviews, the article illustrates how indigenous voices have been marginalised and their Treaty rights misrecognised within this consultation process. As such, in seeking to understand the procedural determinants of distributional injustice, the article aims to encourage broader green criminological scholarship to do the same.

Citation

Heydon, J. (2018). Sensitising Green Criminology to Procedural Environmental Justice: A Case Study of First Nation Consultation in the Canadian Oil Sands. International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy, 7(4), 67-82. https://doi.org/10.5204/ijcjsd.v7i4.936

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Apr 5, 2018
• Online Publication Date: Dec 1, 2018
• Publication Date: 2018
• Deposit Date: Mar 7, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 12, 2020
• Journal: International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy
• Print ISSN: 2202-8005
• Electronic ISSN: 2202-7998
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 7
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 67-82
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.5204/ijcjsd.v7i4.936
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/2825413
• Publisher URL: https://www.crimejusticejournal.com/article/view/936