Mining involves occupying and transforming the land, often in very extreme ways. It can also involve displacing people (for example to make room for a tailings dam or mine site), and disrupting the migration patterns of animals. According to the laws and treaties in Canada, this kind of activity requires the consent of Indigenous peoples in some cases. For this reason, government bodies at various levels (federal, provincial, territorial) have processes in place to consult with Indigenous peoples about the use of their land for mining.
In reality, many of these consultation processes are shams. The best outcome of consultation that many Indigenous people hope for is to mitigate the harms that mining will inevitably bring to their community. There have been only a few rare cases where consultation has actually halted a resource project in Canada.