Launching a project — whether it’s mining, energy, industrial or territorial — is no longer just about meeting regulatory requirements. Today, no project can succeed without social acceptance.
Whether you're developing a wind farm, a critical minerals mine, a transport system or an urban development, you’ve likely experienced this:
✅ Technical permits approved
✅ Environmental studies submitted
❌ Unexpected local opposition… and the project is delayed, challenged or cancelled
Why? Because a “social licence to operate” cannot be bought — it must be built.
Social acceptance is the outcome of a process where the people and communities affected by a project — citizens, municipalities, First Nations, organizations — consider it legitimate, beneficial, or at least tolerable compared to the alternatives.
Unlike a mandatory consultation carried out just to tick a box, it requires genuine engagement, where the concerns raised are taken seriously — and visibly integrated.
The concept originated in the Canadian mining sector, which popularized the term Social License to Operate in the 1990s. It has since spread across all sectors: energy, infrastructure, transportation, clean technologies, urban development.
Nickel, lithium, graphite, copper, niobium — Canada aims to become a leader in the battery supply chain, which means a surge in exploration and extraction projects across many regions.
Without a solid and structured territorial engagement strategy, years of planning can be derailed.
Let’s look at a real-world example.
In the 2000s, Gaspésie became the wind capital of Quebec. Several projects were praised for their economic benefits, while others faced strong local resistance.
Critics pointed to:
Visual impact on the coastal landscape
Noise and light effects
A sense of exclusion from decision-making
The developers who succeeded were those who:
✅ Built with municipalities, not next to them
✅ Established clear mechanisms for local benefits
✅ Involved the population early on, using surveys, questionnaires and public workshops
Urban and territorial planning projects — whether new residential districts, public transit lines or industrial redevelopments — are often perceived as collectively useful. Yet even when presented as being in the public interest, these projects can be rejected if citizens feel they are imposed without real space for discussion or choice.
In other words, it’s not just the nature of the project that creates resistance — it’s the way it is framed and shared. When a project is seen as a done deal rather than a proposal to build together, citizens adopt a defensive or distrustful stance, slowing down its acceptance.
In Canada, social acceptance necessarily includes the principle of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) for Indigenous communities.
Some agreements have become models of co-development:
| Project | Partnership |
|---|---|
| Raglan Mine (Nunavik) | Historic agreement with Inuit communities, including revenue sharing and joint committees |
| Eastmain Hydro | Co-management between Hydro-Québec and the Cree Nation |
The message for developers is clear: legal authorization is not enough — relationships determine success.
You can’t manage what you don’t measure.
That’s why leading developers now rely on structured tools, including surveys, questionnaires and online engagement platforms.
A well-designed questionnaire helps quickly identify people’s top concerns: is it environmental impact, economic benefits, landscape or health? It also allows comparison across groups — for example between nearby vs. distant residents, youth vs. seniors, elected officials vs. citizens.
Moreover, a strong survey strategy helps adjust the project before it faces opposition, by integrating expectations rather than reacting to them. Finally, it provides tangible evidence of consultation efforts for authorities — useful for BAPE, IAIA or municipal hearings.
Cocoriko is a Canadian online engagement platform designed to involve citizens in major projects, even across large geographical territories.
With Cocoriko, a project developer can:
✔ Capture real-time participation data
✔ Choose the desired level of questionnaire transparency
✔ Publish surveys in both French and English
✔ Map responses by region
✔ Generate a clear report for authorities, elected officials or partners
The Bas-Saint-Laurent and Gaspésie Port Authority used Cocoriko to launch a questionnaire aimed at confirming that potential concerns had been properly identified and that proposed mitigation measures were satisfactory before submitting their environmental impact assessment. The target group included only those already involved in the consultation process.
The “Table de concertation sur l’harmonisation des usages récréotouristiques du Projet Des Neiges – Secteur sud” also used Cocoriko to gather citizen suggestions for enhancing recreational tourism potential in the Côte-de-Beaupré region.
A contested project costs more money, more time and damages the promoter’s reputation. A co-created project is stronger, faster to implement and more resilient over time.
Successful developers aren’t the ones who talk the most — but the ones who listen the earliest.
🎤 So what if your next project began with a question rather than an announcement?