Research Axes

People working in mountainous landscape

The objective of the interdisciplinary research group on territories of extraction’s (IRGTE) scientific program is to enrich the expertise of faculty and students at the University of Ottawa. It also aims to contribute to improving public policies in the extractive industry sector. To this end, IRGTE promotes the analyses of its associated researchers in order to advance the issues identified below. When the United Nations Working Group on Business and Human Rights visited Canada in June, 2017 it signaled the urgent need for the Government of Canada to find solutions to socio-environmental conflicts that are directly related to the extractive industries, both in Canada and abroad. Members of the IRGTE network examine different aspects of these conflicts and the activities we organize are an ongoing part of the critical task of formulating innovative strategies to solve these issues.


The main objective of IRGTE is to develop a common and socially relevant research program on the socio-environmental issues related to the extractive industries. The diversity of disciplinary fields, theoretical frameworks, methodological approaches, and fields of study of our members inform the development of a series of innovative research projects around three key axes:

  1. Regulation
  2. Socio-environmental conflicts
  3. Indigenous rights.
Back to top