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NEB tours Beaufort Delta On-the-land excursion provides first-hand look at exploration prospects
Roxanna Thompson
Northern News Services
Published Thursday, August 1, 2013
INUVIK
Members of the National Energy Board (NEB) recently had a chance to go out on the land in the Beaufort Delta.
National Energy Board chairperson Gaetan Caron speaks with Clara Day at Whitefish Station after sharing a traditional Inuvialuit meal. Day spoke fondly of being on the land from the time she was a child. She passes on the language of the Inuvialuit and the traditional skills she learned from her ancestors to her grandchildren and great grandchildren. - photo courtesy of Susan Gudgeon
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Chairperson Gaetan Caron and a small contingent of staff members joined the Inuvialuit Communications Society on a week-long jaunt around the Delta to get a better sense of local culture and how the prospect of renewed oil and gas exploration in the area is being viewed.
The trip was led by local expert Gerry Kisoun, a former Parks Canada staff member and one of the most knowledgeable people when it comes to the Delta and Beaufort Sea areas. He's currently working with Up North Tours, who was contacted to lead the expeditions. He said he had been hired by the joint group for the trips.
Kisoun said he guided the group by boat to the traditional whaling camp at Whitefish Station before leading them on to Kendall and Baby islands for an overnight campout. A few days later, he also guided them to Shingle Point for the Inuvialuit Games.
"A lot of people from Aklavik go there," Kisoun said.
In between, the group chartered a helicopter to visit Herschel Island and Ivavik National Park in the Yukon.
Caron said for him, the trip reinforced the powerful connection local people have with the land.
He said he better understands now the oft-repeated saying "if you take care of the land, the land will take care of you."
He said the NEB had been asked by local people and elders to come "see the land the way they do."
"We'd been asked by the trappers and elders to come and see what they've been talking about," Caron said. "We'd heard so many stories, but we thought there would be a difference between hearing about it and actually seeing it. That's what took us here.
"It's very striking," he said. "It's at the forefront of their mind and heart."
The cost of the trip was paid by the NEB, he was quick to add, and he didn't consider it to be a summer junket.
A few times, Kisoun had to jump into the Beaufort to guide the boat by hand away from shallow sandbars, something which left Caron deeply impressed.
"He just jumped in," he marvelled.
He also thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to sample some traditional country foods. Muskox chili was one of his favourites, followed by a sampling of beluga.
"It was an experience of the senses," he said. "It informed us of why people like country food. It's there, it's healthy and it tastes really, really good."
Caron said he particularly enjoyed the opportunity to participate in the traditional games at Shingle Point. He competed in the dizzy stick competition, and managed to fall down only "three times" in the process. The game involves running around a post 10 times, he said, and then trying to run back to the starting line.
Caron said the trip "reinforced" his belief the board was doing the right thing when it came to "environmental protection."
Interest in oil and gas exploration in the Beaufort Delta area is starting to increase again after a lull of several years. Caron said an application by Imperial Oil to drill offshore in the Beaufort Sea is making its way through a preliminary screening process. A formal application is expected in 2014.
As the hub of the Beaufort Delta, Inuvik will benefit from the project by serving as the staging area and it will generate jobs for the local workforce.
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