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RADILIH KOE'/FORT GOOD HOPE
Draft recommendations have been released for the proposed Ts’ude niline Tu’eyeta Protected Area - in the Sahtu region of the NWT, west of Mackenzie River - and discussion surrounding boundaries and economic potential have begun.

Sahtu MLA Norman Yakeleya: "We have to put a stake in the ground and this is it." - NNSL file photo

The proposed parcel of land, "of spiritual and cultural significance" to the Dene and Metis people in the Fort Good Hope area, has moved forward in the protection process to be labelled a National Wildlife Area.

The original proposal – complied by the Ts'ude niline Tu'eyeta candidate National Wildlife Area Working Group – identified 15,119 sq km of land. However, the amount has been decreased by 67 per cent of the original figure, bringing the potential National Wildlife Area to 10,103 sq km.

The reduced boundary was in response to potential economic ventures in the mining and oil and gas industries.

The process to secure the area of land began in 1993, with the signing of the Sahtu land claims agreement.

“The land claim provides for sacred sites and cultural sites and .. allows for various options for the ultimate protection of these special areas that people have a close attachment to,” said Norman Yakeleya, MLA for the Sahtu region. “The Fort Good Hope Dene and Metis have utilized these tools to give it the highest level of protection of their lands and that's through the National Wildlife Act.”

The proposal wouldn't affect the hunting rights for the residents in the area, and both the Dene and the Metis groups are trying to secure subsurface rights.

“They are making a strong recommendation that there's going to be no development at all (surface or subsurface),” Yakeleya said. “They have have made comprises to their original amount of land that they were looking at. They were looking at 15,000 sq km and they brought it down to 10,000 sq km.”

According to Yakeleya, while the residents have made concessions, the ultimate decision on the boundary should rest with the people.

“It is the people's wish and their decision,” Yakeleya said.

“You can have a number of opinions out there telling the people how they should put a boundary on specific areas and how they should be managed. The people will listen to the opinions they can be sympathetic to mining and the oil and gas companies and other development, but ultimately it's the wish of the K'asho Got'ine people in Fort Good Hope.”

Promoters of the mining industry have raised concerns about locking away potential economic gains in the area, and would rather see a less rigid agreement put into to place.

“If you look at the size of it, that (area) would actually encompass our three diamonds mine,” Tom Hoefer, executive director of the NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines said. “That gives you a sense of the area. Now imagine if lying somewhere underneath there, hidden, is any kind of potential like the diamond mines .. that's 20-plus years of opportunity and billions of dollars in training and jobs and business for the North.”

The NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines were part of the discussion – alongside Ducks Unlimited, the Government of Canada, and the GNWT – and lent their voice to the issue, suggesting a less permanent solution.

“The approach that we've recommended is to be very careful using types of protection that removes areas forever and ever, because forever is a long time,” Hoefer said. “We just don't know what future generations' needs are going to be or what sorts of future technologies can bring us and what type of future knowledge can bring us. For us to make a decision today, saying 'we know for sure that we don't want anything to happen here,' is a little bit arrogant I think, because we don't know what future generations will think, or what future technology and future science will tell us.”

Those behind the protection efforts say the decision lies with the people of Fort Good Hope, not the mining industry.

“Live with it and respect the wishes of the people of Fort Good Hope,” Yakeleya said. “That land is a wetland of significant (value) ... there's species at risk, there is a high volume of migratory birds ... We can't push back anymore. 'We've heard you industry and we're going to reduce the boundary, however this is a spiritual and cultural protection of this land that far outweighs any economic development.' We're thinking 100, 200, 300, 400 years for our generation, not just 10 years.”

The boundary of land went through a resource assessment, which found the area to be "of significant potential."

“Its got significant potential in a lot of the region for zinc, lead, copper, oil and gas and even diamonds,” Hoefer said. “From our perspective, finding areas that have high mineral potential are also rare too and we say they deserve to be protected as well.”

According to Yakeleya, the land holds a different kind of potential.

“The water is too important, the land is too important, the animals are too important and our way of live is at stake here,” Yakeleya said. “We have to put a stake in the ground and this is it.”

The next step in the process is for both levels of government to approve the proposal and develop a management plan for the 10,103 sq km.

It's something Yakeleya will be fighting for.

“All the way,” Yakeleya said. “I think they (MLAs) will (approve the proposal) because this is a significant piece of work that's been in the works since 1993. The people in Fort Good Hope, the Dene and the Metis, have worked on this and support this for the future so I don't see why the MLAs and the government wouldn't support this initiative.”

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