Between sustainable development and social acceptability

Social acceptability is increasingly becoming an essential condition for the development of Quebec's territories for mining, energy, or forestry purposes. The term "social acceptability" has become part of the vocabulary of citizens, the media, and our elected officials. Despite sustainable development criteria and approaches that include sustainable development analysis grids, a project that meets sustainable development criteria does not automatically pass the social acceptability test. Obligations to consult communities have been enshrined in laws, such as those on mining and forestry, in order to avoid using local communities as a mere source of natural resources that are then abandoned, leaving the community devitalized and its people in distress.