Land use talks cause stir
Participants tell GNWT regional differences need to be considered
Stewart Burnett
Northern News Services
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Passionate discussion filled up more than two hours at the Yellowknife Inn last Thursday when the GNWT met with residents to find out what land use management issues are important to them.
The Department of Lands assumed responsibility for administering public land management policies after devolution and aims to have a policy framework for recreational land use by early next year.
Gina Ridgely, manager of the sustainability unit with the GNWT, said she was happy with Thursday's session, which was the fourth of nine across the territory.
"We had really great participation from the people who came out," she said afterward. "We heard a lot of good input and a lot of great ideas."
The goals of the meeting included creating a framework that ensures a clear and fair process for non-commercial leasing of rural land, identify new areas suitable for leasing or sale, ensure aboriginal rights are respected, improve public access to recreational areas and ensure rural land across the territory is used responsibly and sustainably.
Ridgely said she heard interest in new leasing opportunities and recognition that not everyone wants the same thing or same user experience.
"Leasing needs to happen in the broader context of land use, including industry and other uses," she said. "I also heard that people are interested in environmental sustainability."
Participants in the meeting were asked to consider questions such as how they want outdoor recreation to look in 10 years, what would threaten that future, where new cabins should be developed, if new leases should be made available, what the best way to issue them would be and what kind of rules and regulations should be enacted.
One word came up in nearly every discussion group that night: squatters.
"People who do not have a legal instrument on the land are unauthorized occupants," explained Ridgely. "In the North, particularly around Yellowknife, we have people who are not authorized to build cabins on the land. We've stepped up our enforcement and we will continue to post people who are unauthorized and follow through on those."
Didier Bourgois, a cabin owner in Yellowknife, has spent 33 years in the North.
"I think the most important thing (I saw) was the passion that people have for the land," he said afterward.
Before preparing a draft framework, the GNWT will be engaging other departments in the government as well as seeking input
from aboriginal partners.
"There was a distinct message," said Ridgely, comparing the meetings in Yellowknife to those in Hay River and Fort Simpson. "Make sure it's not a 'one size fits all.' We need to recognize regional differences in our approach."
Tom Hoefer, executive director with the NWT Chamber of Mines, attended the meeting and said it's good the GNWT is consulting with the public.
"What we want to do is avoid conflict," said Hoefer. "Mining is really important to the Northwest Territories. It's the most important thing in our economy and will be for a long time. If we're going to start planning land uses, let's make sure we don't make a conflict with that and mineral development."
Cabins should be in low mineral potential zones, he said.
David Connelly, past president of the NWT Chamber of Commerce and current consultant to mineral and aboriginal groups, said he senses an increasing willingness from previous meetings to look at the many competing land uses around Yellowknife, from waterways for hydro to road transportation to fur trapping and mining.
"(Before), people were only looking at cabins," said Connelly, who attended the first meeting on Feb. 10 as well. "I think now people are willing to look at much broader land uses and how those can work together."
Throughout history, he said, there has always been a conflict about land use, and that's why people are working to iron out a sustainable approach now.
"I don't see it as industry versus recreation," said Connelly. "Many people who work in industry want to have a cabin and everyone wants to have affordable power. Sustaining Yellowknife's lifestyle means sustaining its recreational lifestyle but you also need to sustain its economic lifestyle which means keeping the cost of living and cost of power down. I look at it as working today to avoid conflict tomorrow."
Going forward, Connelly hopes the GNWT's maps mark out areas such as wetlands and rich mineral lines to help inform residents.
Ridgely said mineral interests are one of many interests on the land and that the maps the GNWT provided at the sessions, adding they "were not intended to show the full picture of all land uses. Rather they were demonstrating existing areas that are off limits through existing processes such as inter-measures agreements."
