K'ahsho Got'ine agree to fibre optic line route
Now that the path through the Sahtu is cleared, GNWT awaits Gwich'in approval before plans for high-speed Internet cable can move forward
Cody Punter
Northern News Services
Published Monday, October 20, 2014
Mackenzie Valley
The territorial government continues to make progress toward getting approval for its highly-anticipated Mackenzie Valley fibre optic line, after it reached an agreement with a key aboriginal partner in the Sahtu.
Last week, Finance Minister Michael Miltenberger announced the GNWT and the K'ahsho Got'ine District have signed an agreement to allow for the construction and operation of the project through their territory.
"With the majority of the installation occurring within the existing right-of-way, the significant link for the project was linking the section between Fort Good Hope and Inuvik," stated Miltenberger in a news release.
Earlier this summer, the GNWT announced that the Northern Lights Fibre Consortium - led by Ledcor Development Ltd., LTS Infrastructure Services Partnership and Northwestel - was awarded the contract for the project.
The proposed line will pass through several regions but will for the most part be laid along existing highways, which fall under territorial jurisdiction and do not require approval from local aboriginal groups.
Now that the K'ahsho Got'ine District is on board, the GNWT now needs to finalize an agreement with the Gwich'in Settlement Area before it can send the project to the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board for public review.
In a recent letter to the land and water board, Gwich'in Tribal Council acting president Norman Snowshoe stated he is not ready to give consent for the project to go ahead.
"A significant part of the project proposal is to cross Gwich'in land, and at this time there is not approval from the Gwich'in Tribal Council for any permanent access to the project," reads the Sept. 18 letter from Snowshoe.
"We wish to confirm that no access will be forthcoming until the GTC's social, environmental and economic objectives, on behalf of all Gwich'in members."
Sean Craig, a public-private partnership analyst for the Department of Finance, pointed out that Snowshoe's letter was written in response to a May 1 letter from the GNWT. He said it does not take into account the fact that the two sides have been working together to come to an agreement for the past six months. Over the summer, the GNWT completed an archaeological impact study of the area as well as two rounds of consultations, he said.
"The reality is we've been making a lot of progress," said Craig.
Snowshoe did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
If and when the Gwich'in decide to sign an agreement with the GNWT, the water board will then have to conduct its own review of the project before construction can begin.
According to Craig, the hope is that the GNWT will receive approval from the review board by the new year so that work can begin on installing the line by January 2015. Once completed, the 1,270-kilometre fibre optic line will extend from McGill Lake 90 kilometres south of Fort Simpson all the way up to Tuktoyaktuk and deliver high-speed internet capabilities to seven communities along the valley.
