Check against delivery

It is a pleasure to address you today as part of this long running event.

It would of course be far more enjoyable for each of us to be under the midnight sun in person. Instead, I have turned my mind to next year and to the message I can deliver at what appears to be a turning point in this stage of response to global pandemic. If the trends continue, next year we will all be able to gather once again in Inuvik, in the Beaufort Delta – at the height of the summer solstice and speak and meet with you in person.

While I look forward to that, I sincerely hope that we will not have forgotten the experiences and lessons learned during the height of the pandemic: Governments and businesses alike shifted the way that we work, the speed at which we develop and implement programs, our tolerance for change and the level of attention paid to a recovery that has stretched into future visions of what we want our society and economies to look like. While I very much hope to put the social and travel restrictions behind us soon, I do not want to lose the strides we have made in all of these areas of work and governance.

As a government, now is not only a time to regain the ground we may have lost towards advancing the mandate of the 19th Assembly during the height of COVID-19, but an opportunity to accelerate it with greater attention paid to areas of challenge and the ingredients for effective change.

Two such ingredients that have been highlighted by the COVID-experience are the importance of relationships and importance of keeping an open eye - and mind - to the wide possibilities of the future.

Even before we were forced to address the challenges of COVID-19, the GNWT had identified the need for economic diversification and the importance of a creating an environment best-suited fostering and supporting long-term economic growth.

As I look to the future, I can tell you that the Beaufort Delta in particular, with its history of strong inter-personal connections and broad spectrum of potential, is in a position to be a leader – both in our territory’s economic recovery and its economic future.

I had the pleasure of visiting the Beaufort Delta early earlier this year and witnessed, first-hand, some of the innovative and imaginative ideas, businesses and people that I am confident can, and will, drive our future.

So I am pleased to use these observations from the region as the examples of the kinds of relationships and future possibilities that I want to speak to today.

Tourism

Tourism has been the hardest hit of our economic development sectors.  We know that.

In March, we introduced Tourism 2025 a new five-year plan for tourism in our territory. It was originally intended to be introduced nearly a year earlier as a growth strategy, but we shifted gears to consider and include recovery efforts, as well as growth.

However, no strategy can change the unfortunate reality that until visitors fully return to the NWT, economic relief measures will still needed to keep affected operators and accommodation providers afloat. 

I am happy to note that close to a dozen companies from this region benefited from the Growth and Recovery by Investing in Tourism – or GRIT Fund introduced in cooperation with CANNOR in 2020; and a number of communities in the Beau-Del have taken advantage of programs to re-focus their tourism infrastructure and products.

We built on that success last week with the introduction of PREP and STAR - two new supports to help licensed tourism operators and accommodation providers across the NWT meet their fixed costs, so that they are once again poised for success as travelers begin to return to our territory – as industry analysts are confident they will.

The NWT is likely to emerge from COVID as one of the “safer” destination for early travel and there is continued strong interest in our territory.  So much so, that some are anticipating tourists and visitors to begin to flood back to the North shortly after they’re able to do so – rather than return with a slow trickle.  The attraction of the Inuvik to Tuk Highway and the Arctic coast is obviously a big part of that interest. I have had the good fortune to travel some of the more famous roads around the world, but to travelling by car from the tree line of Inuvik, across rolling hills of shrub into the tundra, then finally plains dotted with pingos before culminating at the arctic coast is unlike anything I have ever experienced.

Northwest Territories Tourism was one of 539 jurisdictions at a recent industry show vying for the attention of future travellers.  At the end of the week, the NWT was the third most visited booth of the show.

Again, while keeping a keen eye on the vast possibilities of the future, we must also remember the importance and strength of relationships in the NWT.

During tourism week this year, the GNWT sponsored a campaign to showcase NWT residents supporting the local tourism industry by Staycationing.  One of the stories we featured was by Amanda Reynolds, a teacher from Aklavik who, with her colleagues, spent their Spring Break in Inuvik with Judi and Olav at the Arctic Chalet. Unsurprisingly, the stories that emerged were not only of fun, exciting and incredible experiences, but experiences enhanced by the human connections to their land and place, and shared with the people of the NWT.

Everything that defines our world-renowned tourism product remains in place. The peoples and cultures of the NWT are as vibrant and welcoming as ever - and neither the midnight sun nor the Aurora have been turned off as a result of COVID.

Arts

Much like the Aurora Borealis, our arts community is in another bright-shining light in the territory and Beau-Del region.

The Great Northern Arts Festival has long been a staple of this region and I am happy to see it return this year with a refined focus on skill and professional development.  I know ITI’s NWT Arts Program will be presenting and they are excited to be involved.

The Departments of ECE and ITI are working together to deliver on a new arts strategy and to find ways to better respond to the growth potential that this industry sees for itself. People in the NWT are still primary consumers for the works of many incredible artisans, but we all know that these talents need not be a secret.

Closely related, ITI’s Fur and Hide Program is working closely with ENR to improve the way ringed seal in Ulukhaktok is prepared for transport to processing centres.

This will mean higher quality pelts for NWT crafters, and importantly, ones that the GNWT can certify for import into the European Union. This will go a long way to opening up new markets for traditional crafters in the Beau-Del – and especially for those communities who will be catering to cruise ships.

Mineral and gas resource development

Shifting gears to mineral and gas resource development, one item in the 19th assembly’s mandate is a commitment to increase resource exploration and development.  The Beaufort Delta is a region that embodies the idea of both potential and possibility, and the importance of relationships, to achieve this commitment through sustainable growth.

The Gwichin Tribal Council and Inuvialuit Regional Corporation both developed regional mineral development strategies for their regions that envision the resource possibilities from within, and an aim to create positive benefits for their people, while respecting their community values. These strategies were signed just months before COVID hit, and after a brief pause, now it is time to look forward to the next steps in support of their implementation.

Continuing on the theme of relationships, NWT residents need to participate in decisions about when, where and if resource development happens in our offshore.

With that in mind, we are working closely with the IRC, Canada and the Yukon Government to develop an accord, which will greatly change the approach to decision-making in the Western Arctic Ocean and provide northerners with direct involvement in important decisions about our offshore resources. An Arctic offshore accord will allow NWT residents to assume a decision-making role that Canadians in other jurisdictions citizens have had for decades.

We are also involved, with these same partners, in the science-based review of the offshore moratorium on petroleum activity.  That review will bring forward traditional knowledge and science to help determine if the federal government’s current offshore oil and gas moratorium should be lifted.

I want to recognize a couple of remediation projects that are moving forward.  We’re obviously happy to see the Imperial Oil clean-up at the Tuk Base is on-going and in the capable administrative hands of the ILA (Inuvialuit Land Administration).

Following the IRC’s lead, we are also participating in the development of a multi-party approach to addressing legacy in-ground drilling sumps.  We are close to finalizing a project charter that will formalize how we will work with representatives of industry, the Government of Canada and the Yukon Territorial Government to address this important issue in a future-focused way; it is an opportunity to showcase that in the North we can very successfully do business differently.

In another example of business being done by communities for their people, we continue to follow and support the Inuvialuit Energy Security Project at M18 south of Tuktoyaktuk. This is a 100% Inuvialuit owned project, that will energize and power NWT communities with NWT energy resources. 

Finally, on the topic of Arctic natural gas, we continue to explore the feasibility of exporting natural gas from the Beau Del.  This is truly an opportunity to not only look to a future that focuses on greener energy but one where economies are built on partnerships with those on whose lands the opportunities lie. Again, I believe the north is built on relationships and is a place where visions about how business is done and how opportunities grow can be at the front of the ESG movement.

Knowledge Economy

One final exciting project that I would like to highlight in the area of economic development and diversification is the work that is beginning on the development of our Government’s first-ever Action Plan on the Knowledge Economy.  Engagement sessions are set to begin this month with a wide variety of key stakeholders.

A knowledge economy has at its heart both the idea of human connectivity, as well as an eye to wealth of possibilities that can grow from sometimes simple ideas. It identifies the value of something intangible like knowledge and ideas, and hopefully creates an environment where those ideas can generate prosperity. 

The foundation for a knowledge economy is an environment that enables residents, businesses, governments, academic institutions and social organizations to come together to not only share their ideas but to fill one another’s gaps of experience, expertise, financing or technology while innovating an idea into a product, content or other social good or value.

The Beaufort Delta is ready to be such a hub.

Earlier this year, I visited the Inuvik satellite facility that is in the midst of expansion; the Arts, Crafts and Technology Micro-manufacturing centre that is working with other Beaufort Delta communities to bring tech centres across the region, and the Aurora Research Institute where they are partnering with other academic institutions on a range of arctic science activity and exploration - and inspiring the next generation of students with satellite construction.  Everyone I spoke to from Tuk to Aklavik to Inuvik had ideas they wanted to share. With the Broadband fibre to Tuk project underway, and redundancy coming via a fibre to Dawson City, Yukon, the pieces are in place for Inuvik to be the regional hub for knowledge and innovation.

Conclusion

I will conclude by highlighting the recent Emerging Stronger 2021 documents that speaks to our recovery from COVID-19 and in it, the work started under our mandate that is being accelerated to response to the impact of the pandemic. 

For example, COVID-19 has demonstrated to us how important it is to ensure that government infrastructure money circulates through our local economies, provides not only immediate jobs but future employment through training, experience and exposure while still closing the infrastructure gap we have against southern Canada. I am expecting a report with recommendations from an independent panel on public procurement later this month and have a process underway with Indigenous Governments of the NWT to create a made in the NWT Indigenous Procurement Policy.

We have also established a Red Tape Reduction working group composed of regional representatives from both GNWT and the private sector. Work toward the implementation of the made-in-North Mineral Resources Act and Public Lands Act, is well underway - once again putting relationships between the GNWT, Indigenous Governments and interested stakeholders at the centre, to ensure that we end up with innovative legislation that is responsive and innovative.

Meanwhile, the GNWT continues to help businesses survive the pandemic by supporting companies to pivot their operations, invest in pursuing new directions or get their books in order.

The number of businesses that have survived this year to pivot and recover from the impacts of the COVID pandemic is in part a testament to the strong and resilient character of our northern business, service providers and entrepreneurs.

Through our distinctive support for the local airline industry, as well as sponsorship of Staycations, Buy North and Shop NWT initiatives, we are delivering the message that economic recovery will focus on the strength and interconnectedness of our territorial relationships, while keeping an eye to being ready for growth as we all emerge from COVID 19.

A vision that I believe emerges from this pandemic and our response to date is one grounded in our strengths: a distinct form of consensus government where we can bring ideas together from across this vast Territory to create a government mandate; where we can look to the distinct features and opportunities for future growth in each of those regions and offer tailored support to each one, because we are all part of the whole of the Northwest Territories. The seeds for a diverse, healthy and sustainable economy built on a foundation of relationships are growing – and the GNWT will play our part in nurturing their future.