SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
With the occasional thumbs up or honking car horn, their cheers grew louder.

France Benoit, far left, Fiona McGregor, centre, and Doug Ritchie hold an anti-fracking banner along Franklin Avenue on Saturday. - Shane Magee/NNSL photo

"No fracking way," chanted more than a dozen people along Franklin Avenue, at the foot of the Aurora College building Saturday afternoon as light rain soaked their banners and placards.

Organized by the local chapter of the Council of Canadians, a fracking protest march moved from the parking lot adjacent to Somba K'e Civic Plaza east on Veterans Memorial Drive before coming down Franklin to the college corner.

"We're fighting to protect the land and the water," said Lorraine Hewlett, the secretary of the local council chapter.

She said areas that depend on the land for food cannot put the land at risk of contamination.

The demonstration was held in conjunction with similar ones in other cities called the Global Frackdown.

"There's lots of people that understand we can't continue to use fossil fuels with the speeding up of the melting of the ice caps and rising sea levels," Hewlett said.

Hydraulic fracturing, known as fracking, is a process used to extract shale gas or oil from areas where conventional methods typically don't work.

A mix of sand, water and chemicals are pumped underground at high pressure into the shale rock formations that hold the gas. The pressure fractures the rock while the sand holds the fractures open, allowing the gas to flow and be tapped for production.

Opponents fear the practice will contaminate water supplies and cause other environmental damage.

A recent report published by the Council of Canadian Academies, on behalf of Environment Canada, found that more research is needed about the possible environmental impacts of fracking.

"Currently, data about environmental impacts are neither sufficient nor conclusive," the report stated.

Paul Wilcken was one of those who took part, holding a sign reading "fracking kills."

He said seeing the practice move further North worries him.

"People are underestimating the impact (on water) because we don't understand the impacts, we haven't researched them enough. We don't know the repercussions from what may or may not happen," Wilcken said.

He said if water supplies become contaminated, it would change the way of life for those living in the North.

"The land and the water is the North. That's peoples livelihood," he said.

The Sahtu Land and Water Board recently granted a five-year permit approval for ConocoPhillips to drill up to 10 exploratory wells in the Sahtu, though the company said it has no plans to start this season.

France Benoit said she's marching in support of the people in the Sahtu against the practice who she said might not feel they can adequately speak out about it because they live in a small community.

"I'm here in support of those voices that cannot be expressed," she said.

New fracking regulations are expected to be in place next year for the territory.

Shale gas development is already underway in Alberta and British Columbia and a small number of gas wells were fracked in New Brunswick this summer.

New Brunswick has been the site of growing opposition to the practice, including protests that ended violently near the community of Rexton when RCMP moved in last year.

The rally ended Saturday with people watching a video at the college about that protest.

Fracking became a major issue during the September provincial election, with the party vowing to impose a moratorium on fracking until more is known about the practice winning a majority.

Nova Scotia recently introduced legislation to ban what it calls "large volume fracking."

Newfoundland and Quebec have banned fracking.