NWT will move on aboriginal issues without feds
Premier says prime minister was invited to the premier's conference, but fact he didn't attend won't delay territory's actions
John McFadden
Northern News Services
Monday, July 27, 2015
NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
Premier Bob McLeod does not know why Prime Minister Stephen Harper turned down an invitation to attend the premier's conference in Newfoundland and Labrador earlier this month.
He said, however, that the premiers have decided they can move forward on issues such as missing and murdered aboriginal women and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission recommendations without the support of the PM or the federal government.
"He chose not to attend. The formal response we had was that he meets with all of the premiers on a bilateral basis regularly," McLeod said.
"We (the premiers) obviously had the option, especially with missing and murdered aboriginal women, to do nothing and say this is the responsibility of the federal government. But all of the provinces and territories felt that this work is very important."
"It's scandalous what's happening with missing and murdered aboriginal women."
McLeod chaired the national roundtable earlier this year looking into the issue. It was originally going to be held in Yellowknife but was eventually moved to Ottawa.
McLeod said that there is an appetite among the premiers to continue addressing the issue at the territorial and provincial level with input from aboriginal governments.
"We're going to work together to find the resources to go forward and to have another roundtable in 2016 (in Manitoba) to review the recommendations that came out of the roundtable in 2015," McLeod said.
In terms of the Truth and Reconciliation Report dealing with residential schools, McLeod says the NWT is in the enviable position of already having moved on some of the recommendations.
"We have implemented a lot of the recommendations - things like curriculum changes, so we think we are ahead of the game and we of course will be responding to all of the 94 recommendations."
Among the agreements signed by the premiers was a new national energy strategy. The leaders discussed how to speed up the approval process for inter-provincial pipelines.
In the past, McLeod has floated the idea of an Arctic pipeline to bring Alberta's oil north.
"We were in a situation where we could not develop our tremendous oil and gas potential because nobody was prepared to let pipelines go through their territory and land," McLeod said.
"But with this agreement that will no longer be the case so we can have the ability to look at all options.
