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Conservation trumps pipeline Deh Cho take decisive step in linking Mac gas project approval to its agenda Gary Park For Petroleum News
After years of bluster, rhetoric, ultimatums and legal ploys, it seems to have finally come down to an all-or-nothing demand from the Deh Cho First Nations.
The chances of unified aboriginal support for the Mackenzie Gas Project and perhaps the fate of the project itself ride on the outcome.
It’s also possible, given their negotiating history, the Deh Cho aren’t finished.
But for now the Deh Cho position is clear-cut.
A Mackenzie Valley pipeline, about 40 percent of which crosses Deh Cho land, won’t have that community’s support unless a swath of 50 million acres at the southern end of the Northwest Territories is set aside from development under a conservation plan.
Herb Norwegian, the hard-line grand chief of the Deh Cho, declared “it’s the plan first and the pipeline second. Our position is that without the land-use plan, there won’t be a pipeline.”
For the Deh Cho, this is the most decisive step yet to use the pipeline as leverage in negotiations for a land claim and self-government.
A coalition of four environmental groups has aligned itself with the Deh Cho at a time when the debate over natural resource exploitation in Canada is moving to a crescendo.
Issue could be final straw Unless there is a speedy resolution of the issue it could be the final straw for the MGP proponents, who have increasingly warned that delays in the regulatory process pose one of the greatest obstacles to the future development of northern Canadian gas.
But, in the case of the Deh Cho, lead partner Imperial Oil has taken a consistent position by refusing to get drawn into taking sides on matters it says are strictly for the Deh Cho and federal government to resolve.
Imperial’s only function is to reach benefits and access agreements with the aboriginal regions, which it has with all along the pipeline route except the Deh Cho.
So the heat is squarely on the Canadian government to decide how it will deal with the Deh Cho’s declaration, provoked by Norwegian’s assertions that Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s administration “seems to be dragging their heels and reneging on all previous agreements that they have made.”
Previous government took first steps Under an interim deal signed in 2001 by the previous federal government, the Northwest Territories and the Deh Cho made the first serious move towards reaching a modern treaty for land and self-government.
The offer proposed giving the Deh Cho ownership over surface and subsurface rights covering 10,000 square miles of the total settlement area of 54,000 square miles.
With ownership the Deh Cho would, among other things, control all subsurface leasing for mining and oil and gas development, as well as collecting permitting and lease fees and 100 percent of resource royalties, although the terms still have to be negotiated.
The Harper government followed that last June by offering a land claim proposal that included a capital transfer payment of C$104 million to be paid out over 15 years for the 4,500 members of the Deh Cho, including 12.5 percent of the first C$2 million and 2.45 percent of any additional royalties collected in the Mackenzie Valley — in line with the formula used for other settlements.
The first step required the government and the Deh Cho to come to terms on an agreement in principle to incorporate the main provisions of a final agreement, such as the amount of land, amount of money, locations of the land and fundamental principles of self-government, federal negotiator Tim Christian said at the time.
He said then that agreements in principle typically took up to two years to settle.
Ominous undertones to initial response Norwegian’s initial response gave cause for optimism, but there were ominous undertones.
He said the Deh Cho, the Mackenzie proponents and the NWT government would be in a “win-win situation if we can move along and get this thing to happen. I think there is enough for anyone to benefit.”
He also described the unexpected offer from the government as being “way out in left field.”
Indian Affairs and Northern Development Minister Jim Prentice, chosen by Harper to clear the path to Mackenzie pipeline, said the package was a “fair offer and I am hopeful that we will be able to get a resolution.”
He said the Deh Cho treaty was the “largest bit of unfinished business north of (the 60th parallel) in this country, so it’s an important claim.”
“It’s a claim we wish to resolve and it has implications in terms of the routing of the pipeline.”
But then and since Prentice has delivered an unambiguous message to the Deh Cho: The pipeline will be built whether or not they are full partners in the project.
“It would be nice to have the land claim settled, but this process takes a lot of time,” said Prentice, who speaks from experience. Before entering politics, he was law commissioner on the Indian Claims Commission of Canada for 10 years and is widely-respected as a land claims negotiator.
Tony Williams, chief operating officer for the Gwich’in Tribal Council, which has a land claim and a Mackenzie access and benefits agreement, said it was a “milestone” for the government to make such an offer.
Nellie Cournoyea, leader of the Inuvialuit, said she would not even be unhappy if the Deh Cho secured a better deal than the one she helped negotiate in 1984.
Hopes for settlement have faded Whatever the hopes of a negotiated settlement, they have faded over the past nine months, overshadowed by the Deh Cho land use plan.
In January, Norwegian said the final draft of that plan holds the key to achieving a “just final agreement.”
“Land and resources are integral to our claim,” he said. “We are militant on land use.”
But he accused the Canadian and NWT governments of wanting to scrap the Deh Cho efforts on land use “because they say it is too conservation-oriented. We reject that.”
He said the federal government was asked late in 2006 to suggest changes. “We’ve had no response. They’ve ignored us.”
Norwegian said the work over the past five years by the Deh Cho Land Use Planning Committee has attracted national and international praise as a model.
Yet the federal and territorial negotiators have “reneged” on their promise to include land use planning under the interim agreement and now say there will be no land use planning until there is an agreement in principle, he said.
“I suggest Canada is afraid of this land use report being implemented,” he said. “They are well aware that the Deh Cho has a ‘green’ environmental agenda where they are so weak in their policies on the environment, especially in the north.
“Where does the Mackenzie Gas Project fit into the environmental agenda? There is a federal decision coming and the environment will play a big part in that,” Norwegian said.
So the question is what next? The latest round of land claims negotiations was cancelled in mid-March, with no comment from Norwegian or Christian.
Meanwhile, the Deh Cho are refusing to nominate any members to two boards working on Mackenzie Valley resource management.
Another round of talks is scheduled for April, but there is evident frustration in federal ranks over the conservation ultimatum.
A spokeswoman for Prentice told reporters the government has “made it clear to the Deh Cho that we’re willing to work with them on the land use plan in order to find a satisfactory solution for all sides. That being said, the place to resolve issues is at the negotiation table.”
The ingredients for a pivotal test of wills are in place.
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