Good afternoon,

Thank you for your invitation to appear before the Standing Committee today as you review Bill C-88 - An Act to amend the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act and the Canada Petroleum Resources Act.

As you review this bill, I would like to share with you some of the Northwest Territories recent history which is specific to the NWT offshore and the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act.

The Northwest Territories is home to 44,000 residents who live in 33 communities, spread out over more than 1.3 million square kilometres. We are a unique jurisdiction where Indigenous and non-Indigenous people live, work and govern together in the same communities and where half of our population identifies as being First Nations, Inuit or Métis.  The result of this combination of Indigenous and non-Indigenous people living and working together is a public government where actions and decisions are informed by and include northern Indigenous views and priorities from the outset. 

A large part of our territory’s modern history can be linked to resource development dating back to the 1920s with the discovery of oil in the Sahtu region. Today our economy is still heavily reliant on resource development with mining, oil and gas accounting for more than 25 percent of our GDP.

Since 1984, the Governments of Canada and the Northwest Territories have been party to six settled Indigenous claims. Most of these agreements are land claims which formally recognize the rights of Indigenous governments to manage and benefit from the ownership of land and resources in their region.  The rights of the Dene and Metis of the Mackenzie Valley are reflected in the MVRMA, which was enacted in 1998 and provides an integrated co-managed land and water management regime throughout the Mackenzie Valley.

The MVRMA has been a world-recognized model for public-Indigenous cooperation in the management of lands, waters, and other resources in the NWT for more than 20 years. The co-management model emerged from the three constitutionally-protected land claim agreements of the Mackenzie Valley. We’ve provided an “MVRMA at a Glance” handout and also a map of the Territory.  The MVRMA applies to all NWT areas outside the northernmost region, the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, which takes a different approach to resource and land management. 

The MVRMA ensures transparency during project reviews and ensures that economics, the environment and culture are considered during project assessment. The MVRMA also provides for the review of government-led infrastructure projects, and holds both our governments to the same high standard of accountability that industry is held to. 

The GNWT wants to ensure we have a progressive regulatory system that works for the people of the NWT, governments, and will also attract industry investment.  Bill C-88 seeks to advance numerous modern amendments to the MVRMA that were first passed in 2015’s Bill C-15.  Those include:

• The authority to direct regional studies, which can examine the effects of a development at a regional scale.
• The authority to develop Administrative Monetary Penalty regulations, which can be used to promote compliance.
• And the establishment of Development Certificates.  These are becoming common tools across Canada to ensure measures from Environmental Assessments and Impact Reviews are carried out.

This was the intention when the Government of the Northwest Territories and the Government of Canada signed the Devolution Agreement in 2014. However those Bill C-15 amendments never came into force due to a court injunction brought about because of a section of Bill C-15 that would have consolidated the four regional land and water boards into one larger board.  Bill C-88 seeks to advance the amendments from Bill C-15 again, while preserving each of the regional Land and Water Boards.  We don’t see Bill C-88 as a partisan bill.  It ensures that land claim agreements are fully implemented by maintaining the regional boards, and also has modern amendments with multi-party support.  As you can see, the MVRMA is also quite unlike other project assessment laws that are currently being considered.

The MVRMA is well-established, and has allowed Indigenous and public governments to work together to manage the development of land and resources for the past 20 years.   The proposed amendments to the MVRMA in Bill C-88 would increase certainty around responsible resource development in the NWT.  That certainty is something our Territory needs, as we continue to work with the Indigenous governments in the territory to attract responsible resource development.

I would also like to touch briefly on Bill C-88’s proposed changes to the Canada Petroleum Resources Act, or CPRA.  The CPRA is the law that outlines how petroleum exploration and development rights are issued in the Arctic ocean, which is still under federal jurisdiction.

Unfortunately, Canada unilaterally imposed a moratorium on new offshore oil and gas licences in 2016 without consulting either the territorial Indigenous or public governments.

Although disappointed with how the moratorium was imposed, we also recognize that Canada has a need to provide a legal basis upon which to implement this moratorium.

As a government, our current focus is moving forward towards co-management of the NWT’s Arctic offshore waters and resources.  We are working with Canada and other partners on the five-year review of the moratorium.  We also want to ensure that the review is evidence-based and evaluates the different regions of the Arctic individually, as the Beaufort in particular has benefited from many years of study.

We fully expect this CPRA provision to be a short-term measure, and for Canada to fulfill its commitment to developing an offshore co-management regime comparable to the Atlantic accords. We need this Accord to ensure northerners will be decision-makers on oil and gas exploration and development in our offshore, including making decisions on if, when, where, and how it happens.

The GNWT supports swift passage of C-88.  The implications of not proceeding with Bill C-88 within the life of this government, and retaining status quo are significant.  Amendments to the MVRMA have been on the books for 5 years, and we don’t want any more uncertainty associated with our regulatory regime. Resource developers are contemplating investing in developing the NWT’s rich natural resources and everyone benefits from regulatory certainty. 

The government of the Northwest Territories and Indigenous governments are working together to build our territorial economy.  The passage of Bill C-88 and the preservation of the Regional Land and Water Boards, as committed to in land claim and self-government agreements is an important part of this.

Thank you.