September 5, 2012

(check against delivery)

• I would like to speak to you today about the approach the Government of the Northwest Territories takes to sustainable development as we work to create a prosperous, self-sufficient territory that provides opportunities for our residents and contributes to the economic well-being of Canada as a whole.  I will also talk to you about the role that strong, effective partnerships play in managing resources within the Northwest Territories and outside our borders.
   
• Northerners enjoy a special relationship with the land. It has been a source of food, shelter and material goods for our Aboriginal peoples for generations.


• The land and its resources continue to hold an important cultural and spiritual significance for us.


• Living closely with nature and caring for our natural environment is a part of our past, a way of doing business today and a priority for our future.


• Sustainable development and responsible resource management is not just a political convenience or academic for us, it is personal.


• I grew up in Fort Providence on the Mackenzie River.  I have seen first-hand the changes that have resulted from development in the south.


•  I remember the river before the Bennett Dam was built.  And I remember not being able to get to many of my favourite fishing and swimming holes afterwards.


• As a resident of the Northwest Territories and as a father and grandfather, I have a stake in ensuring the long-term health of our Northern waters and environment.  As a Metis, respect for the land and wildlife is part of my Aboriginal heritage.  Like all Northerners, I am concerned about the effects of upstream development and have an interest in protecting our land and water.


• I also have a professional interest in land and water issues.  For much of my 28-year career as a federal and territorial public servant, I was involved with finding ways to balance development and conservation and the sustainable management of our resources. I represented the territorial government in some of the first meetings on transboundary water management and remember how the agreements we have today began and were negotiated.

 

Transboundary Water Agreements:

• 1^st Mackenzie pipeline in 1960-70s


• Meeting every 6 months


• DOT, ENR, DIAND (Garth Bagay)


• No “E” words


• Water Conferences


• Strong attempt


• Lowest common denominator


• Indicators to be negotiated as part of bilaterals


• As an Assistant Deputy Minister with the territorial department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, I was part of the Northern Rivers Basin Study, a four-and-a-half-year project that studied the relationship between industrial, agricultural, municipal, traditional knowledge and other development in the Peace, Athabasca and Slave River basins. The study included the governments of Canada, Alberta and the Northwest Territories.  I was co-chair of the group responsible for producing the final report and recommendations emerging from the study.


• While all Northerners believe in the critical importance of preserving and protecting our environment, we also know that responsibly developing our resources is key to our economic and social development.


• It is our unique Northern irony that we are a territory of tremendous opportunity, but also face tremendous challenges.


• The Northwest Territories has the potential to be a prosperous, self-sufficient territory that is a net contributor to the Canadian economy.  We have rich stores of renewable and non-renewable resources, including hydro, timber, minerals, oil and gas.


• In spite of this potential wealth, the people of the Northwest Territories are still faced with unemployment, poverty, housing and infrastructure challenges and high cost of living.


• We need to create opportunities for our people to succeed and creating a strong, stable and diversified economy is one of the ways we will do that.  That will mean development of our natural resources, but it does not mean development at any cost.


• We know that development has to be sustainable if it is to support our long-term economic, cultural and social well-being.  Our government follows a formal Sustainable Development Policy that incorporates this knowledge and reflects our unique Northern traditions and priorities.


• We define sustainable development as development of natural resources in a manner that ensures economic, social and cultural needs are met while maintaining ecosystem integrity and biological diversity and without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.


• We recognize that environmental conservation is essential to long-term economic prosperity. At the same time, we also recognize that economic development can contribute significantly to the achievement of conservation goals.


• We recognize the interdependence of conservation and development and apply the concept of sustainable development to all our decisions and actions related to natural and heritage resources.  Our decisions aim to:
  
  
  • promote economic development which maintains harvestable resources at sustainable levels, essential ecological processes and natural diversity;
  
  
  • routinely combine and equally weigh conservation and development factors in decision-making processes for the use of resources;
  
  
  • take local traditional knowledge, values and experience into account; and
  
  
  • manage our resources so that opportunities for future uses are maximized and maintenance of ecosystems is ensured. 


• The land and its resources are a source of great potential wealth for the people of the Northwest Territories. Economic development and social development go hand-in-hand.  We must develop our economy if we are to develop socially and give our people the opportunity to achieve their aspirations and potential.


• Development of our resources has the potential to improve the lives of our residents and make the Northwest Territories a “have” jurisdiction, but it must be managed properly. Development must be sustainable. It must be consistent with our Northern priorities and values.


• Some of you may have heard of the ongoing devolution negotiations between the Government of the Northwest Territories, several of the Northwest Territories’ regional Aboriginal governments and the Government of Canada.  Devolution will be the key to ensuring that development in the Northwest Territories is controlled by Northerners and is in the best interests of all our residents.


• Unlike the provinces and Yukon, the people of the Northwest Territories do not control their own public lands and resources, including rights in respect of water. Decisions on whether and how to develop public lands and resources in the Northwest Territories are still made by the Government of Canada. Resource royalties from that development flow directly to Ottawa, rather than directly benefiting the people of the Northwest Territories.


• While the Government of the Northwest Territories has assumed responsibility for all other areas of province-like jurisdiction, responsibility for lands and resources, including water, remains beyond our grasp.  We believe the transfer of this responsibility from Canada to our government is overdue.


• We are currently negotiating a devolution agreement that will finally see responsibility for public lands and resources move from federal control to the hands of the more local, responsible and accountable territorial government.


• Devolution of lands and resources, including rights in respect of water, to a more local government, the Government of the Northwest Territories, will result in decisions that better reflect the priorities and goals of the people of the Northwest Territories.


• One of the things this devolution will allow us to do is to work more collaboratively and cooperatively with Aboriginal governments in the Northwest Territories.  In our negotiations, we have committed to formalizing an intergovernmental relationship that will allow the public government of the Northwest Territories to work more closely and collaboratively with Aboriginal governments when it comes to land and water management.


• We see a relationship that respects the fact that we have our own jurisdictions, but also recognizes that we each as northern governments have many common interests related to land and resource management.


• Devolution will make water management better in the Northwest Territories. It will allow decisions respecting water management to be made by a more accessible government that must remain responsive to the concerns of priorities of the people of the Northwest Territories.


• We look forward to making devolution a reality.  We have an Agreement-in-Principle on devolution signed and are working to finalize negotiations.  Our goal is to have devolution implemented by April 1, 2014.


• But we are not waiting for devolution to work more collaboratively with Aboriginal governments.  Our government, perhaps to a greater degree than any other public government in Canada recognizes the importance of working with Aboriginal communities and governments.


• We have seven regional Aboriginal governments in the Northwest Territories, each with their own jurisdiction, membership and priorities. The Government of the Northwest Territories is just one of several governments in our territory with an interest in how our lands and resources are managed, protected and developed.


• Achieving our vision of a prosperous territory that provides opportunities for all our residents means working closely with Aboriginal governments to identify shared interests and opportunities for cooperating on initiatives to benefit all the people of the Northwest Territories.


• Cooperation has long been a tradition in the North.  In a harsh environment with few people, you need to be able to pull together and rely on your neighbours for survival.


• Working together has always been the way Northerners have done things and it continues to be the way that the Government of the Northwest Territories does business.


• We lead the country in ongoing and formal engagement with regional Aboriginal governments. We are the only jurisdiction in Canada to have government-to-government relations with our Aboriginal governments and it is reflected in all our activities and operations.


• We sit alongside Aboriginal governments on a variety of regulatory and wildlife management boards, making joint decisions based on shared interests and priorities. We formally involved Aboriginal governments in the drafting of new species at risk and wildlife legislation, reflecting their special interests and rights in these areas.


• Recently, our government was recognized nationally by the Institute of Public Administration of Canada with a silver medal for work our Department of Transportation did to complete project description reports for a proposed Mackenzie Valley Highway in close cooperation with Aboriginal communities and governments.


• Local communities were handed authority to lead consultation on the construction of the highway, which will pass through the traditional territory of four Aboriginal governments.


• These activities all reflect our ongoing commitment to collaborative decision making and engagement with our Aboriginal governments. This commitment was underscored in June with the release of our Aboriginal Engagement Strategy, Respect, Recognition, Responsibility.


• Respect, Recognition, Responsibilitysets out eight principles of engagement that our government is committed to:
  
  
  • We recognize and affirm the Aboriginal and Treaty rights of Canada’s Aboriginal peoples in the first principle.
  
  
  • We recognize the inherent right of self-government as an existing Aboriginal right under section 35 of the Constitution Act 1982.
  
  
  • We commit to building mutually respectful government-to-government relationships.
  
  
  • We recognize all existing Aboriginal Right Agreements and commit to using them as the basis for engagement with Aboriginal governments.
  
  
  • We respect the diverse governance structures of Northwest Territories Aboriginal governments and we will be open in engaging with the different governments and communities that exist within each region.
  
  
  • We commit to building responsible and accountable government-to-government relationships that are responsive and flexible.

• There are also principles with respect to working together and establishing regular formal meetings with each Aboriginal government in the Northwest Territories.
   
• In our eighth and final principle, we continue our commitment to working with Aboriginal governments to ensure responsible stewardship over Northwest Territories lands, water and air.


• The principles and commitments contained in Respect, Recognition, Responsibility were developed through discussion with Northwest Territories Aboriginal governments.


• While land and water use planning is not the only area that this impacts, it is a particularly key area for Aboriginal government engagement.  In the Northwest Territories, Aboriginal governments are major land owners that control significant natural resources.


• We are determined to create conditions for success that work to the benefit of all Northwest Territories residents.  We are actively negotiating and settling land claims, and creating certainty of rights and process for Aboriginal people.


• Our world is growing more connected and interdependent every day.  Nowhere is this seen more clearly than in the Mackenzie River Basin.  If we want to protect this important resource, while continuing to allow for responsible, sustainable development, provincial and territorial governments will have to find effective ways to work together.


• I think the Northwest Territories can help show the way. With our ongoing work with our Aboriginal governments, we are experienced in achieving consensus and reconciling competing interests among many partners.


• The lessons we have learned and experience we have gained in building partnerships and finding mutually beneficial solutions in the Northwest Territories can be applied on a wider scale as we turn our attention to managing the waters of the Mackenzie River Basin in cooperation with Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia and Yukon.


• Minister Miltenberger will now speak to you more specifically about the Northwest Territories Water Strategy and our approach to protecting northern waters.  Thank you.