Aboriginal partners support continuation of WKSS
Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Feb 05/01) - On the eve of its scheduled demise, the West Kitikmeot Slave Study got what could prove to be its biggest vote of confidence.
Aboriginal partners in the research funding organization said they want to see the partnership continued and applied to cumulative effects research.
"By bringing in some new partners and putting all our heads together over the next year, we think we can come up with a solid, workable approach that everyone can buy into," said Ted Blondin, Dogrib Treaty 11 representative and chair of the board that manages the study.
Aboriginal partners unanimously support the continuation of the organization.
"It was critical," said study director John McCullum of the show of support. "If they think this model would work very well in another form, I think government has to respond to that in some way and I think industry has to respond to that in some way."
So far there has been no such response has been made by government or industry, but Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development official David Livingstone was confident the study will continue beyond its scheduled March 31 ending.
"This is a pause of sorts, a chance to wrap up work that needs to be wrapped up and do some thinking about what we want in a new regional study program," said Livingstone, a member of both the WKSS board and the committee developing a cumulative effects framework.
Last Friday the WKSS board was scheduled to finalize a proposal to adapt the organization to cumulative effects research. The proposal will call for funding for the continuation of some research projects and for the development of study questions to guide cumulative effects research.
Livingstone said any worthwhile cumulative effects management framework would include a research program.
Over the last five years the WKSS has funded more than $6 million in both scientific and traditional knowledge baseline research. Baseline research describes in scientific terms the existing state of an area. The information is needed to monitor the impact of development.
The WKSS is funded by private donations matched dollar-for-dollar by the territorial and federal governments. BHP and Diavik have been the greatest private donors, contributing a combined $2 million.
But turning the West Kitikmeot Slave Study from baseline to cumulative effects research involves more than changing the focus of research.
The composition of the board will change. The North Slave Metis Alliance, which has emerged as the voice of North Slave Metis, did not exist at the time the WKSS was created.
The relationship of the territorial government to the study has also changed. Nunavut made no contribution to the study in 1999-2000. It contributed $187,500 this year. After division, the NWT government dropped the cap on its funding commitment to $375,000 from $750,000.
The development of a proposal to establish a WKSS-like body to do cumulative effects research is also complicated by a year's delay in developing the cumulative effects management framework.
