Good afternoon,
It is great to be here in Seattle for Arctic Encounters 2019.
As a leader from an Arctic region, and as an Indigenous person, I have made it my life’s work to encourage the right kinds of development, collaboration and opportunity for the people of the North. For us in the Northwest Territories, responsible resource development remains one of most meaningful paths to promote opportunity and self-sufficiency for our residents.
The Arctic is the future, and how that future is built and managed be led by and meet the needs of Northerners.
Strategic investments in the Arctic are a critical part of the future for our countries. Who makes those investments? Where are these investments needed most? How much and how soon can you invest? These are the questions that are being asked right now. The answers to these questions will have a direct impact on future economic, cultural and national interests.
Now is the time for us to be having these conversations and to be making concrete actions and commitments. The risk of inaction is too great. If we don’t take informed, strategic actions now, we will continue to fall behind other nations who have been investing in their own Arctic agendas, and we will fail the next generation of northern peoples by not creating opportunities to thrive.
During the time that I have with you today along with President Grimmsson, I want to make the case that strategic, deliberate and long-term investments in the Northwest Territories and its people are needed, and that the time for those investments is right now.
The Northwest Territories is home to 44,000 residents who live in 33 communities spread out over more than 1.3 million square kilometres. To put that into perspective, we are a jurisdiction that is approximately 500,000 square miles and our entire population is just a little bit bigger than the Belltown neighborhood here is Seattle.
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 Government of the Northwest Territories’ Legislative Assembly reflects this with half of our Members and five of seven Cabinet Ministers – including myself – being Indigenous.
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 Indigenous views and priorities from the outset.
I want to stress that partnership, cooperation and working together are more than buzzwords though. Our entire public service takes the responsibility to reflect the priorities of all residents seriously and has committed to advancing self-government, and land and resource agreements with Indigenous partners. This is a priority of our government.
Since 1984, the Government of the Northwest Territories along with the Government of Canada has 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, including renewable and non-renewable resources.
Settled agreements have provided Indigenous residents with monetary resources, ownership of significant tracts of land and the resources that have been used to fuel economic opportunities. They have made it possible for Indigenous governments to become major landholders and recognized the authorities to determine how large parts of the Northwest Territories are managed and developed.
I cannot overstate the social, cultural, political and economic importance for northern peoples to manage and benefit for, their own lands and resources. This was a main driver behind the Government of the Northwest Territories pursuit and attainment of devolution of authorities to manage territorial land, water and resources in 2014. Gaining control over land and resources from the federal government allows us to share up to 25 percent of resource royalties with Indigenous governments – one of the richest agreements of its kind in Canada.
Our government’s commitment to negotiate socioeconomic agreements with developers and provide support for the creation of Impact Benefit Agreements, has meant that Indigenous-owned businesses have benefited from more than $4.3 billion in direct contracting with our diamond mines since 1996. During that same time more than 9,400 person years of employment occurred for Indigenous residents of our territory.
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 small economy is still heavily reliant on resource development with mining, oil and gas accounting for more than 25 percent of our GDP.
For more than two decades that small economy was driven by our world class diamond mines which have provided good paying jobs and opportunities to our residents. But times are changing and along with fluctuating commodity prices and our diamond mines nearing the end of their productive lifespans, we are faced with very real and profound questions about what the future looks like for the Northwest Territories.
Our GDP today is close to $1 billion less than what it was in 2008, while our neighbors to the East and West- Yukon and Nunavut – have increases their GDPs in the hundreds of millions and even billion dollar ranges during that time.
Between 2007 and 2016, the Northwest Territories economy shrank from $4.5 billion to $3.7 billion. During that same time, territorial unemployment rose from 5.7 percent to 7.4 percent which resulted in 800 fewer jobs in the territory.
The Northwest Territories remains the only jurisdiction in Canada that has yet to recover from the global financial crisis. Our government and our Indigenous partners are not sitting idly and waiting for the next opportunity to come by and put food on the table for us.
Why I am sharing this information about the Northwest Territories with you today is to illustrate a very important point that is often lost on influencers and decision makers who do not live and work in the North. That point is that responsible resource development and socioeconomic wellbeing go hand-in-hand in the Northwest Territories and that this relationship will continue to be important to our economy going forward.
We are working hard to diversify our economy. Agriculture, tourism and other sectors, at least in the short term, will not be able to contribute as much as resource industries, and responsible resource development. They must be part of the conversation on the future of the Northwest Territories.
Together with industry and Indigenous partners, the Government of the Northwest Territories is making sure that we are part of national and international conversations on the future of the Arctic. We need to make sure that our voices, our priorities and our people are reflected in the future that we want to build together. This is a top priority for us.
For the Government of the Northwest Territories and for our Indigenous Government and organization partners, that means charting a future where responsible resource development continues to drive our economy while ensuring that our land can sustain our people, water and wildlife.
We know that this future is possible.
We have done the work to chart our long-term vision and approach to energy, climate change and petroleum resources.
The 2030 Energy Strategy, the 2030 Climate Change Strategic Framework and the Petroleum Resources Strategy are three complimentary guiding documents we released during the term of this government. These take into account the new realities that we are facing in the NWT, and clearly explain where we as a territory want to be by 2030 to our partners, industry, investors and public.
To make good on our energy, climate change and petroleum resources vision for the Northwest Territories, and to fully embrace Canada’s status as an Arctic nation, we need concrete infrastructure commitments and investments for our territory.
In the Northwest Territories we know exactly what this looks like. It requires strong funding commitments to develop energy and transportation infrastructure that most Canadians take for granted.
What I’m talking about are roads, electrical grids and renewable energy projects that will lower the cost of living for our residents and the cost of doing business in our territory.
It’s about connecting our people and communities to one another and the Northwest Territories to the rest of Canada and North America through more reliable transportation and energy systems as we manage and adapt to the daily reality of climate change.
These are not new ideas. But now more than ever the risks with not building a Mackenzie Valley highway, of not expanding the Taltson hydroelectric system and of not building a road to the Slave Geological Province area, are too high to ignore for our residents and for our country.
If we don’t invest in public infrastructure in the Northwest Territories we lose the ability to make sure that Canada’s north remains vibrant and strategically important.
Without strong commitments to deliver the energy and transportation infrastructure projects that our people deserve, want and need to benefit from. They are being told their livelihoods, and culture are not a priority. They are being told that the voices of others matter more and that they do not deserve the same amenities and supports that southern Canadians take for granted.
As Premier, it is my responsibility to work with other NWT leaders to advocate for the residents of the Northwest Territories and to do everything that I can to position our territory and our people for success.
Success for us will come when the tide starts to shift and the world begins to understand that the North and its people are a good investment.
We want to show that by investing in our energy and transportation infrastructure we can attract the kinds of responsible resource development projects that will create the diversification and opportunities that our residents and businesses deserve and that the rest of the nation can benefit from.
We can demonstrate that our approach to working collaboratively with Indigenous partners has created the social license and environment for sustainable development and strategic investment that is the envy of other jurisdictions.
And we want to be actively participating in the conversation about the future and benefit from the types of investments that will allow us to be strategic international players in the decades to come.
As part of Arctic Encounters you have been treated to some of the best artistic and cultural showcases of northern ingenuity, talent and performance. You have experienced first-hand how rich and varied northern cultures can be, and you have had the opportunity to hear from Northerners about what they want, hope for, need and deserve.
As a Northerner leader, I have been part of the resurgence in Indigenous and Arctic culture, have been a champion for reconciliation in our country and have made it a priority to work side-by-side with Indigenous governments to call for what we know will help us achieve sustainable and meaningful opportunities in the Northwest Territories.
To be blunt, economic self-determination – the ability to pay for the decisions you make – is critically important to achieving true political and cultural self-determination. Closing the public infrastructure gap in the Northwest Territories and in Canada’s Arctic should be one of the greatest strategic priorities of the Government of Canada.
I am not the only one who understands that Canada’s north and its people have suffered from a lack of public infrastructure investment. Senate reports, budgetary reports, military reports, all point to an embarrassing legacy of underinvestment in the North.
While other Arctic Nations have embarked on multi-decade initiatives to develop and connect their northern regions to the rest of their country’s infrastructure, we are late to the game.
With that being said, there are encouraging signs that the strategic importance of investing in the Northwest Territories, its people and our own priorities is now being understood. We have been seeing tangible results in the form of investments in our priorities that our voices are being heard.
The first step to unlocking our potential and to empowering northern residents to be drivers of their own destiny, is to make good on the promise of a long term strategic plan for Canada’s North. This plan must include targeted infrastructure investments for those project that we have identified are priorities including building roads and expanding our hydroelectric capabilities. Our government is committed to working with the Government of Canada on their long-term plan for Canada’s North and I truly believe that the true value of unlocking this potential is starting to be understood and appreciated.
The second step is for industry to join us and be part of the future that we want to build. Together with Indigenous governments we have sent the message loud and clear that the Northwest Territories is a jurisdiction where the social license to develop responsible resource projects exists and where our governments are ready, willing and able to support their success. We understand the relationship between resource development and socioeconomic wellbeing and envision a future for the Northwest Territories where resource development will continue to play a key role in driving our economy.
Finally, northerners must be trusted and respected in making decisions about their land, resources and future wellbeing. Our people have been silent witnesses to the effects of decisions that are made for them for far too long. In some cases the consequences of this have been devastating.
Part of reconciliation is giving credit where credit is due, and the residents of the Northwest Territories have been finding ways to live and thrive together for years. We have the tools and relationships to thrive, but we are 44.000 people who have been left behind. We need strategic investment from existing and new partners. With this the Northwest Territories will become the thriving economic, cultural and artistic contributors to Canada and North America that we know we are capable of being.