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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Alternatives North criticized the federal government's review of Northern regulatory systems last week, recommending it be shelved in favour of a 2005 audit conducted by the territorial government.

Doug Ritchie, a volunteer member for Alternatives North, said the report authored by Alberta consultant Neil McCrank is supportive of an Alberta-style regulatory model, one based on uncontrolled and unsustainable development, something Northerners don't want. The report was released in July.

"The Alberta-type model is so appealing because people don't have so much control over it," Ritchie said. "I think they would just want to see a green light for whatever project comes up."

Ritchie said the report is reflective of the growing oil and gas industry and the fact there is limited monitoring of what they are doing.

"It's a prime example of how (oil and gas) industry basically rules all other industries and the government gives it priorities in terms of all development. I think we've seen what happened in Alberta and we don't want to move towards that model."

Margot Geduld from Indian and Northern Affairs Canada said since the report is still being reviewed they are not in any position to comment on external responses. However she did say more than 100 groups were consulted to help prepare the McCrank report, including Alternatives North.

Ritchie said the GNWT's 2005 Environmental Audit has been largely ignored by the federal government since its release. Ritchie said the resources spent producing the McCrank report could have been better used acting on the proposals of the 2005 audit.

"We do not see an appetite on the part of any of the aboriginal groups to substantially change the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act (MVRMA)," Ritchie said.

"I don't think there is any desire to lessen community control. We don't see the changes that McCrank proposed being accepted so we believe that the report should be shelved and the focus directed towards implementing some of the ideas that came out in the Environmental Audit of 2005.

"The reality is that we have this regime. We think it's a strong one compared to others. We think the government would be better served, the people of the North better served, if we accepted the model as it stands now and fund it properly."

The audit, made public in 2006, looked at how environmental change is monitored and how land and water are managed in the NWT. The report made over 50 recommendations to improve the monitoring system.

He said funding has been especially limited for Cumulative Impact Monitoring Programs (CIMP). In 1992, the Government of Canada committed to the Gwich'in in a land claim agreement that some form of cumulative impact monitoring would be provided and more recently to all residents of the Mackenzie Valley. Ritchie said progress is slow in implementing these programs due to a lack of funding.

"We have a good system that aboriginal people fought for at the negotiating table and they are enshrined in the MVMRA. It needs to be properly funded."