Not welcome at the big table
Division and failed Dene-Metis claim set devolution back for Patterson government
Bruce Valpy
Northern News Services
Published Monday, March 31, 2014
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Elected to a third term as MLA for his Iqaluit riding in the 1987 territorial election, Dennis Patterson was then elected government leader.
He recalls the role devolution played back then in measured tones, until he gets to his memory of a First Ministers Conference, where the country's provincial premiers gather to discuss mutual issues with the prime minister of the day.
"It was embarrassing," he said, his voice failing to conceal resentment. "We couldn't even sit at the table. Incredibly insulting. Had to sit with the bureaucrats and had 15 minutes to speak."
Patterson's tone turned even more indignant when describing federal-territorial relations when he took office in 1987.
"The strings of colonialism were still there," he said. "The NWT Act to this day gives Canada the authority to take over through the commissioner. We couldn't call elections without permission of governor-in-council (federal cabinet)."
But that's going to change April 1, with the signing of the devolution deal. Patterson said he and his territorial colleagues knew the work they were doing then was for future generations. As distant as April 1, 2014 may have been then, his government gave it a high priority.
"We had a devolution secretariat headed up by Peter Allen," Patterson said. "We devoted considerable time and money. The focus was all on gas and oil."
It was that focus that led to what Patterson sees as a template for the present agreement on resource royalties, an awkwardly titled Enabling Agreement on Oil and Gas Resource Management and Revenues. Based upon the federal government's energy policies, mainly the Atlantic Accord, the idea was to set out joint management and revenue sharing of off-shore resources in anticipation of a drilling boom in the Beaufort Delta and Arctic Islands which never happened.
"We were trying to get ahead of the curve and get in on the action in terms of revenue and management," Patterson said. "I think it was the precursor of the deal now on resource development."
Division of the territory had a much higher priority - so much so it blocked any real progress on devolution, which is why Yukon steamed ahead to sign a devolution deal in 2003.
There was no shortage of lofty matters for Patterson's government to wrestle with. The Nunavut Constitutional Forum and the Western Constitutional Forum, operating together as the Constitutional Alliance, were hammering out the boundary between the two territories.
The Inuit MLAs were not interested in devolving powers to the NWT when they were fully engaged in their land claim which at its core lay the creation of Nunavut. "It was not an easy sell," Patterson said.
Aside from that, considering the federal desire for aboriginal involvement, the Dene-Metis Claim agreement-in-principle signed by Brian Mulroney in Behchoko (Rae) in 1988, fell apart at the Dene National Assembly in 1990. Patterson found the collapse of the Dene-Metis land claim somewhat "tragic."
"Not long after the doomed claim came the biggest diamond rush in recent history," he said. "The Dene would have had a share of those royalties."
Patterson's longstanding affiliation with the Conservative Party is a very public fact, especially after accepting an appointment to the Senate representing Nunavut. "I was one of the few Conservative members back then," he said.
While he attempts to remain non-partisan in matters of northern history, Patterson said he firmly believes there is a distinct difference between the perspective of the two ruling parties in the North.
"The Conservatives believe in the principle of devolution of powers," he said. "Liberals by contrast feel that Northern resources belong to the national treasury."
So as to not hold the motives of the Conservative party too high, Patterson said there is a national interest at work. "It makes sense to give the NWT more control to encourage more development."
