Victoria Bikowski is a fourth-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Politics at York University (Toronto, Ontario), where she is studying Canadian government and politics. Her current research focuses on natural resource development and Aboriginal consultation in Canada.
Victoria is a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Doctoral Fellowship holder and a Northern Scientific Training Program Award recipient. She recently co-authored a book chapter titled “To Consult or Not to Consult: A Tale of Two Provinces” in Protest and Partnership: Indigenous Peoples, Consultation and Engagement, and Resource Development in Canada(UCalgary Press, forthcoming). She also recently completed a Pan-Arctic Extractive Industries certificate programme through the UArctic Thematic Network, which gave her the opportunity to study in Newfoundland, Iceland and Norway. While working on her Ph.D., Victoria has also worked part-time as a consultant for SUSLOP Inc., where she conducted research on Ontario’s Ring of Fire for Marten Falls First Nation.
Fulbright Project Description:
Victoria’s Fulbright research project will center on her doctoral research, which explores the role that provincial Aboriginal consultation policies play in shaping unconventional oil and gas development across Canada. More specifically, her research investigates the relationship between Aboriginal consultation and development certainty for major oil and gas projects in Alberta and New Brunswick.
Through her Fulbright experience, Victoria intends to learn more about oil and gas development and Indigenous relations in the U.S., and to apply this knowledge to her own research. Further, she wants to gain a better understanding of how the U.S. government plans to achieve energy security and independence in the context of climate change, how these initiatives compare to those put forth by Canadian governments, and how leading researchers on both sides of the border are responding to such efforts.