Devolution vs. revolution
Tracking the trail to change in the NWT
Posing after for a photograph after the 1979 election are a mix of the elected and unelected. Back row front left are deputy -commissioner Bob Pilot, Richard Nerysoo, George Braden, and James Wah-Shee. In the front row, left are, Arnold McCallum and, at right, Tom Butters, both elected MLAs, and Commissioner John Parker. Parker was unelected but held the power. - NNSL archive file photo - |
Northern News Services
Published Monday, March 31, 2014
NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
It may seem far-fetched to connect devolution in the North to revolutions in history but both resulted in a transfer of political authority and power. The main difference is the speed of change, often determined by the level of violence or, as in the North, happily enough, the absence of it.
Former Commissioner John Parker has identified the beginning of our Northern-style representative government in the North - our revolution by devolution - in 1951. That's when, responding to pressure from Northerners, the federal government agreed to make room for three elected positions on the previously appointed Council of the Northwest Territories.
Jim Brody of Fort Smith, Frank Carmichael of Aklavik and Merv Hardie from Yellowknife were elected to sit with five other appointees. This could hardly be considered a fully democratic body but it was the beginning. Nor could it be considered very representative. There may have been Dene and Inuit people at the table at various times but it was not their style of government, their money, nor their people making the decisions or carrying them out in the bureaucracy. What the Dene and Inuit brought to the table was land, history and culture.
That fact of aboriginal ownership has led to the creation of a new territory called Nunavut, successive land claims and self-government, and now a share of the wealth in the dollars and cents land and resources can generate.
Much has been written about details of the devolution deal coming into effect April 1, but in the following pages, to get a glimpse of the human side, News/North spoke to the government leaders and premiers who led the Northern team since 1979 and cared to speak. As dry as devolution might appear, it involved a lot of emotions, arguments, frustration and drama for the people close to it.
To add up the numbers since 1979 alone, there were 11 government leaders/premiers, eight prime ministers and 18 federal ministers.
We've only touched the tip of the iceberg, but as newspapers are the first writing in history, perhaps some future Northern historian will be inspired to dig further into the personalities who walked the devolution trail.
