NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
For the past 50 years, Nellie Cournoyea has been instrumental in the political development of the NWT.

Nellie Cournoyea has been involved in territorial politics since 1979. - NNSL file photo

First elected to the Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly in 1979, she was chosen premier in 1991. Since leaving territorial politics in 1995, she has served as the chair of the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation.

Cournoyea oversaw many of the changes in Northern politics, whether it be the settling of the Inuvialuit Final Agreement, the transfer of social programs to the GNWT from Ottawa, division (separating the NWT from Nunavut) or the devolution agreement.

In fact, she is one of the rare politicians who has been involved in devolution from both the inside and out.

She admits the changes have presented their fair share of challenges but has taken a pragmatic approach, recognizing the political forces at play are the ultimate driver and it is better to be involved than watch from the sidelines.

For her, political evolution in the North has and will always be unstoppable.

"Decisions are being made all the time and you best position yourself to make those decisions, or lead the charge," she said.

"You can't wait for everyone to say 'yay' or 'nay.' I'm not being critical, it's a fact of life."

In the past, the greatest challenges to devolution, Cournoyea said, were settling land claims and getting control over resource development.

It was essential for Cournoyea that any devolution deal include revenue sharing and control over resource development.

The present agreement is a sharp contrast to past devolution agreements - such as the transfer of education

and health to the NWT - which was mostly bureaucratic.

"There were no discussions on education," she said.

"We did get involved with health, but it was horrendous."

As one involved in settlement of the Inuvialuit land claim in 1984, she understands why groups who had not settled were hesitant to move forward without any certainty over the powers they would achieve with self-government.

Although those concerns still exist today, Cournoyea said the territorial government has worked hard to provide them a sense of security that the devolution deal will not jeopardize past and future rights and powers.

Ensuring those commitments are honoured, and working to maximize the resource benefits of devolution, she said, is now everyone's responsibility.

"It's like getting married," she said.

"It's all nice at the beginning with all the ceremonies, but then you have to live together."

Could she have improved on the devolution agreement? Cournoyea said it's easy to look backward and criticize but that is not the direction anyone should be focusing on.

Instead, she is hopeful all NWT groups cooperate to implement devolution for the benefit of Northerners. It

is that spirit co-operation, she said, that led the IRC to become among the first to sign the agreement-in-principle.

"We've always tried to be inclusive," said Cournoyea.

"I don't think anyone should pretend or believe things are moving without them."

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