Monday, August 01, 2005
Onus now on oil and gas industry to offer a fair deal
Now it's time for producers to negotiate fair agreements with First Nations on access and benefits.
Producers were hoping to sign off on the project by promising $3 million a year to the Aboriginal Pipeline Group.
That's about what a mid-level NHL player would have been paid before the latest wage agreement, and not nearly enough, according Stephen Kakfwi.
Now an advisor to the K'asho Got'ine of Fort Good Hope, the former premier is promoting a rent on the pipeline that would return as much as $40 million a year to First Nations governments.
According to Kakfwi, the charge is based on what the companies pay to provincial governments.
Producers protest that the charge amounts to a tax, and that the price is too rich. The territorial government objects to the bite from what it sees as its slice of the pipeline revenue pie.
With hearings into the project set to begin this fall, everyone has some time to think about what the $7 billion project means to them.
The Mackenzie Gas Project is the largest single resource project in Canada's history. It can make a significant contribution to the Northwest Territories economy for the next half-century.
For First Nations, the project looks like the best opportunity to establish the revenue stream needed to finance their aspirations for self-government.
Taken together, income from access and benefits agreements, federal impact money and Northern Strategy funds can dramatically change the quality of life in the communities.
Whether the First Nations levy on the pipeline is called a tax or a rent, they deserve a fair return for the use of their land. There is no reason why they should accept less than the provinces. The territorial government should not interfere.
The territorial government stands to gain from a robust Northern economy and will surely be well placed to offer services for cash to the new governments that will emerge at the band, regional and territorial level. A failure to grasp the potential benefits will leave the territorial government isolated at least and could add more delays to what is already a highly complex, tedious process.
It seems almost every mining company out there wants a piece of Nunavut.
De Beers, looking for diamonds, and Inco, for base metals, can be found around Pond Inlet and Clyde River. Cumberland Resources is hoping to mine the gold around Baker Lake. Miramar and Tahera are eyeing the Kitikmeot region for gold and diamonds respectively.
Stornoway, up around Iglulik and Hall Beach, says it has a massive diamond find on the Melville Peninsula.
From the southwest corner of the territory, where it bumps up against the NWT and Manitoba, all the way to Pond Inlet on Baffin Island, the ground has been staked in the hunt for diamonds.
ItŐs a lot of attention for a territory that just celebrated six years of existence.
Nunavummiut already have past lessons to rely on as they try to reap the benefits mines have to offer. The Nanisivik mine near Arctic Bay and the Polaris mine near Resolute are both in the reclamation stages.
Breakwater Resources is working with the government to get the Nanisivik site cleaned up, but residents of Arctic Bay hoping to recycle the infrastructure at the mine were out of luck.
The materials are too contaminated to be useable. The destruction of the Nanisivik town site is expected to be complete this summer.
Over on Little Cornwallis Island, reclamation of the Cominco and TeckCominco zinc and lead mine is expected to be complete by next year at a cost of about $55 million, born solely by TeckCominco.
The reclamation is expected to be fully completed next year. A seven-year monitoring period will follow.
While both these mines can be seen as success stories in some ways, the employment of Northerners is one aspect that needs to be addressed this time around.
The Polaris mine employed only 20 Northerners out of about 250 people who worked there. Numbers from 1997 showed that for every Northern resident who worked at Polaris, another 1.6 was indirectly employed by the mine.
The lesson learned is that you have to push, and hard, to make sure Northern employment is a priority for companies coming here.
Firms are also finding out that residentsŐ priorities lie in the environment, the water and the wildlife that have sustained them throughout time.
While Nunavut may be ready to reap this mining boom, it has to make sure there will be something left behind when the mines close, other than empty pits and buildings.
Editorial Comment
Brent Reaney
Kivalliq News
Humans are social beings. We need to interact in order to live a full life.
Much of this interaction comes in the form of recreational activities.
If administered properly, these activities and programs can strengthen an entire community.
Inside the Rankin community hall last Tuesday, dozens of kids were cheering each other on as they went in pairs through an obstacle course.
Leaving the hall, I drove over to the baseball diamond to get a picture of one of the kids.
The field was empty.
Driving out, I recognized one of the youth and asked him if they were still playing.
"Every day I come, but there's nobody there," he said desperately.
Now I'm not blaming anybody because the kids were not showing up at the ball field for their 1:30 p.m. game, but it was definitely a sad sight.
And Noah Tiktak has been taking kids out on the land using funding provided by the department of Culture Language Elders and Youth.
He has another camp planned for the fall, but does not know if money will be made available for future excursions.
Land trips, summer camps, and baseball games are all forms of recreation.
I've heard a number of people say our territory's recreational programming seems to include too many southern sports, and not enough Inuit activities.
I support the cultivation of Inuit culture wherever possible.
But arguments over whether money should be spent on kids going out on the land filleting char, or staying in town throwing baseballs will not get us anywhere.
Let's ask, not tell, people what they want to do.
And let's provide better support to our community recreation directors. The high-stress nature of the job makes it easy to understand why there is such a high turnover.
The Nunavut government holds regional training sessions, but it does not seem to be enough to keep people around. If we want to have strong, consistent programming, we need people to grow in their jobs.
Sport Nunavut says the secret to making things run on its frayed, shoestring budget is a strong network of volunteers.
With more money unlikely likely to come around any time soon, we need to keep this in mind and help our rec directors organize activities and events whenever possible.
We also need to remember to keep our elders and middle-aged residents active.
Too often, all of our events are focused on kids.
Children are important, but they still need to be physically and mentally active when they become adults.
At the Kivalliq Traditional Summer Games they have an elders division.
This seems like the kind of tradition that will not only keep our communities going, but growing.
Editorial Comment
Jason Unrau
Inuvik Drum
After reading Senator Nick Sibbeston's comments regarding his plan not to support Bill C-38, the proposed same-sex marriage law, I just couldn't help but throw in my two-cents.
According to Sibbeston, his reason for voting against the legislation is that same-sex lifestyles "are not common in the North and our ancestors would frown on such activities and would view it as unnatural."
Yeeghads! Is the same-sex lifestyle uncommon up here because of the region's relatively low population base compared to the rest of the country, which would make other "unnatural" pursuits such as Satan worshipping and nude sled-dog racing equally uncommon?
Or is it uncommon to Sibbeston because he doesn't really swing with the same-sex crowd?
Unfortunately, what is a fundamental human rights issue has been turned into a religious one because the thought of two men or two women tying the knot hurts the sensibilities of many in the God-fearing Christian crowd.
Just to bring everyone up to speed on Bill C-38 and its implications, there are provisions in the legislation - passed in the House of Commons June 28 by a 25 vote margin - preventing churches from being required to perform same-sex ceremonies.
The legislation also protects officials in the public service who conduct civil marriages from being forced to perform same-sex marriages.
So if nobody is forced to do anything that would go against their own morality, what is the big hang up?
For Sibbeston, one of his hang ups is the fact that, according to him, the ancestors would frown on such activities.
Well, word up to Nick, homosexuality is as old as the day is long and is certainly not exclusive (or rather non-exclusive) to any one ethnic group.
Like other human yardsticks such as intelligence or strength, gender-preference is present in all its varied degrees in people the world over.
When one of my gay friends heard about Sibbeston's stance on the issue, he replied, "Just open the doors of a gay bar in Edmonton and count the aboriginal people."
As well, it is something of a paradox for Sibbeston, who played a role in hard-fought battles for aboriginal rights, to turn around and kick sand in the face of another minority group seeking similar treatment from their government.
And finally, Sibbeston's assertion that the same-sex marriage bill is "typical of legislation emanating from social values prevalent in the south but foreign up here," is yet another misguided platitude that is starting to wear thin.
Sure, things are different in the North, but in terms of "social values," we folk from down south sure hold on to the importance of safe communities, healthy families, revering our elders and respecting others just as strongly as folks in the North.
Editorial Comment
Derek Neary
Deh Cho Drum
You know there's room for improvement when people on both sides of a debate have major criticisms of the NWT's regulatory processes.
The chair of Canadian Zinc Corporation says the slow-as-molasses permitting process in the territory is maddening.
The superintendent of Nahanni National Park Reserve thinks the regulatory boards could be doing a more thorough job of assessing the Prairie Creek mine site and its potential impacts.
Does the mine pose a serious threat to the park? A leading Canadian geologist, Derek Ford, has no doubts that it does, at least it will the way current mine operations are being proposed.
Having the park lose its World Heritage Site status would be a big blow. Before the distinction is revoked or any environmental damage occurs, let's get another opinion.
A panel of independent geologists should be assembled to review the situation. If they all agree with Ford (or even the majority), then the Canadian government must step in to ensure every precaution is taken, or buy out the mine and reclaim the site.
Should the panel of experts contradict their colleague, then the mine could proceed with the same level of scrutiny.
Now, if we can just get everyone to somehow agree on who the independent experts should be...
Fort Simpson stepped in to host the NWT Slo-pitch Championships over the weekend, an event that was originally supposed to be held in Inuvik.
Tournament organizers obviously had control over neither the number of teams that would participate nor the weather. Those were the only two aspects of the weekend that proved to be somewhat of a disappointment. The weather couldn't have been better on Friday evening and Saturday, but it turned ugly after that. Sunday was overcast, very cool and breezy. Nevertheless, the bleachers held a decent number of enthusiastic fans, many of whom were wrapped in blankets or sleeping bags. Of course, many others were watching from the warmth of the vehicles parked around the outfield.
The fact that only one womens team and two mens teams travelled to Fort Simpson for the tournament was disheartening. That's not a knock against the calibre of teams involved in the event, but it would have been that much better had a few more communities participated.
On the upside, those who did make the trip seemed very happy that they bothered. I only interviewed a fraction of the players who came into town, but nearly everyone that I talked to was sure to mention that Fort Simpson was a great host.
Not only was praise heaped on local people, the facilities were subject to many a compliment as well. Umpire Charlie Wilson, a guy whose role is to be impartial and call 'em as he sees 'em, made this unsolicited remark in regards to the well-manicured Fort Simpson ball diamond (specifically field number one):
"This ball field is the best in the Northwest Territories, in my opinion... It's a pleasure to come to this field."
Well done.
A photo in News/North, July 25, ("Top cop comes North") should have identified "G" Division Chief Superintendent Everett Summerfield to the right of RCMP Commissioner Giulliano Zaccardelli. Incorrect information was given to News/North. We apologize for any confusion.