Moratorium extended on cabin leases
Lands handed over to GNWT from Ottawa along highway off-limits to development
Elaine Anselmi
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, October 29, 2014
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The territorial government's response to a vastly increased inventory of land is a wider moratorium on building cabins and parks.
No new cabins or campsites will be permitted along the Ingraham Trail or Highway 3 for at least another two years as the Department of Lands develops a framework that will harmonize how recreational land is managed across the territory.
The GNWT attempted to end a two-year moratorium on lands it owned around Walsh Lake, just north of Yellowknife, in 2012 and considered putting 35 recreational lots up for sale but the plan met with fierce resistance from First Nations and existing leaseholders so put the plan on hold.
Devolution has expanded the GNWT's jurisdiction to 1.15 million-square-kilometres from 2,700-square-kilometres of land but it appears that land will remain off-limits too - at least near Yellowknife.
"We need to do our work on the area that is affected, we want to do a density study and make sure it can sustain any new leases," said Lands Minister Robert C. McLeod.
"That is one of the reasons we wanted to hold off on granting any new leases until we complete the work."
The newly formed Department of Lands is working toward a Recreational Land Management Framework, which is intended to tackle new-found territorial responsibilities. McLeod made the announcement on Tuesday, saying that further opportunities for land leases, as well as environmental stewardship are concurrent interests of Northerners.
"Now that devolution has taken place, we need to ensure recreational leasing throughout the territory meets Northern needs and priorities," said McLeod.
Developing the framework is expected to take between 18 and 24 months, a part of that being consultation with various groups, including the public and First Nations.
"We are going to be putting something on our website so the public and stakeholders have an opportunity to comment on some of the work we're doing," said McLeod.
"Consulting with the aboriginal government is a huge part of the work we plan on undertaking."
The government wants to identify what lands First Nations governments are interested in for land withdrawals, said McLeod.
"Land withdrawals are what parties have agreed on for possible future land selection," said Mark Warren, deputy minister of lands. "Should other leases in other areas be considered ... we would do that in consultation with aboriginal governments."
The framework will provide regulations for leasing across the territory, but McLeod assured there would be no significant change to existing leaseholders, other than that renewals would now be processed by the Department of Lands. Whether those leases would become available for sale, he would not confirm.
"Those are details that we're going to have to work out, again, we're fairly early into this," said McLeod.
"There are a number of things we're looking at and obviously that would be one of them. If there is opportunity for us to make that happen, then it is something we'll have to consider."
Department officials say there is the possibility of area-specific regulations in order to address certain concerns. One of the major challenges in the focus area is the issue of squatters, said McLeod.
The government has already increased the number of inspectors and is making use of its enforcement division.
"We'll use whatever means that are at our disposal. If it's going through the judicial system to have them legally removed because they are unauthorized, then that's the step we'll take," said McLeod.
Prior to devolution, the federal government issued 53 land leases in the North Slave, from 2011 to March 2014, said Annette Hopkins, assistant deputy minister of operations.
Taking the land mass and number of leases into account, McLeod said those previous releases were not a contributing factor to the need for a framework, adding the area could "handle and sustain the development and land leases that go on there."
Through the pre-devolution efforts of the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, McLeod said there were areas identified where leasing was not sustainable.
"We heard about one lake that a lot of folks thought there shouldn't be any campsites on there, so we took that into consideration and we actually eliminated all of the potential sites on that lake," said McLeod.
"You don't want lakes that are overcrowded, it takes away from the whole purpose of having a recreational piece of property where you can enjoy the quietness. So, we take all of that into consideration, but the main issue is the lake's ability to sustain a lot of camps on it or recreational leases on it."
