Rights-Holders vs. Stakeholders
Stakeholders have an interest in a decision. Rights-holders have rights that the decision may affect.
What it means
A stakeholder is anyone with an interest in a project, such as staff, vendors, or the public. Rights-holders are different: Indigenous Nations and governments hold inherent, constitutional, and treaty rights. Those rights exist whether or not an organization chooses to engage.
What changes
Stakeholder
Has an interest. Is typically consulted for input, and the organization weighs that input.
Rights-holder
Holds rights and has governing authority. The relationship is government-to-government or Nation-based, not simply one voice among many.
Why it matters
Treating a Nation as one more stakeholder can misrepresent its legal and political standing. In Canada, the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act federally, and the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act in British Columbia, set out commitments that make this distinction practical, not just semantic.