Daniel MacIsaac
Northern News Services

NNSL (July 26/99) - The final part of the act establishing the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board will wrap up by the end of the year, Ottawa has announced.

Western Arctic MP Ethel Blondin-Andrew broke the news earlier this month on behalf of the federal government.

She said the "announcement allows stakeholders to take any necessary steps prior to the upcoming establishment of the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board. The creation of this board is the final element of a co-ordinated environmental management system for the western Northwest Territories."

The board was given royal assent in 1998, and all sections of the act but Part 4 took effect that year.

The act is based on provisions in the Gwich'in Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement and the Sahtu Dene and Metis Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement -- which call for a new resource management system to regulate the use of land and water through the creation of joint public boards.

Under the act, the public boards are responsible for preparing regional land use plans to guide the development and use of land, waters and other resources, regulating that use and carrying out environmental assessments. The boards have jurisdiction throughout the Mackenzie Valley, with the exception of the Inuvialuit Settlement Region and Wood Buffalo National Park.

The Mackenzie board will receive all land and water use applications, and -- until other regional land claims are settled and other boards set up -- will also issue permits and licenses for development activities in the Deh Cho, North Slave and South Slave regions.

Ottawa announced that delay in implementing the act's final part was planned in order to give First Nations communities, the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Working Group and the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development time to respond to concerns raised by First Nations leaders in areas with unsettled land claims -- such as the Deh Cho, Dogrib and South Slave regions.