Dorothy Westerman
Northern News Services

Fort Franklin (Aug 08/05) - An 1,850 square kilometre parcel of land has been added to the Tuktut Nogait National Park, extending it into the Sahtu region.

The park, beginning at the northwest corner of the territories near Paulatuk, now covers 18,200 square kilometres of land.

Tuktut Nogait was first established in 1996 through a signing between the federal government and the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation.

"This is a land we need to protect and be very careful about," Environment minister Stephane Dion said after signing an impact and benefit plan with the Sahtu First Nations.

"The community here has worked very hard for five years to ensure this is done in good partnership," he said.

Also signing the plan was Walter Bayah, chief of the Deline First Nation.

Bayah said it is important for the community to push for what their forefathers pushed for - preservation.

"I think it is only now that a lot of our people are beginning to realize that we have to give it back for the protection of our land," Bayah said.

"This is not only for preserving wildlife, but our own history and culture," he added.

Dion said the region will benefit from the resulting research conducted in the parkland.

"It's about fisheries, it's about the impact of pesticides and the entire ecosystem," he said, describing the research objectives. "It is a good coincidence that the Polar Year is coming. We will need more guides because the park is to protect wildlife, but also for people to learn and enjoy," Dion said.

"Guides will be chosen from the community as much as possible," he added.

Alan Fehr, a superintendent for Parks Canada based in Inuvik, said the addition has helped complete the national park and protect the watershed region of the Hornaday River as well as more of the calving grounds of the Bluenose caribou.

Traditions will continue

"And it protects both the surface and the subsurface lands," Fehr said.

"But the people in Deline will continue to harvest, fish and hunt, just as they have traditionally."

Parks Canada will apply for additional maintenance funding for the park to ensure the newly acquired land is monitored culturally for the Sahtu peoples, he added.

Fehr said the average cost of operating such a park is about $1 million.

Raymond Taniton, president of the Deline Land Corp., said protecting the calving grounds is essential, especially for future generations.

"Under the Sahtu Dene-Metis claim, we will only select so many lands (for preservation) so the door is open for prospecting," he said.

John Max Kudlak, board member of the Tuktut Nogait National park management board in Paulatuk, said the extension of the parkland is important to the people of Paulatuk.

"The whole Hornaday River will now be protected from development," Kudlak said.

"It's good to see the expansion finally being done.

"That's one of the reasons why we had the park established - to protect the winter range of the caribou."

He said Parks Canada has until 2008 to expand Tuktut Nogait into the Nunavut region.

MP Ethel Blondin-Andrew also attended the signing ceremony.

"This is a significant accomplishment of achieving our goal for the Northern Strategy.

"It will create local business opportunities. We have 200 Northern residents employed with Parks Canada."

Parks Canada has been working towards increasing the percentage of land holdings in Tuktut Nogait as well as the Nahanni National Park Reserve in the NWT before its March 2008 goal.