Deh Cho set bargaining position

Want ‘flawed’ regulatory process fixed in exchange for cooperation on Mackenzie line

Gary Park

Petroleum News Calgary correspondent

The Deh Cho First Nations of the Northwest Territories want to overhaul the existing regulatory process in exchange for their cooperation in assessing the proposed Mackenzie Valley gas pipeline.

While assuring the Canadian government that they are ready to “move forward” on the project, the Deh Cho said the agreement covering the regulatory review has been “flawed from the beginning.”

In a submission to Indian Affairs and Northern Development Minister Andy Mitchell on Jan. 23, the Deh Cho said the process does not include their interests, fails to streamline the involvement of the National Energy Board and falls short of current legislation and established best practices elsewhere in Canada.

The Deh Cho, representing 13 communities along and near the Mackenzie River in the lower Northwest Territories, are attempting to negotiate regional self-government on their land. About 40 percent of the pipeline route crosses Deh Cho lands.

Pending a settlement, they have refused to join other aboriginal communities as partners in the Aboriginal Pipeline Group that stands to gain one-third ownership of the pipeline and have warned authorities they have a “legal right to veto the project.”

MOU calls for full assessment

A proposed memorandum of understanding — sent to Mitchell, Environment Minister David Anderson, the National Energy Board, the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board and the Inuvialuit Game Council — calls for the current review process to be dismantled and replaced by one that includes a full assessment of alternatives to the pipeline and the contribution of the project to “sustainable development on a local and a national scale.”

Hart Searle, a spokesman for Imperial Oil, the lead partner in the Mackenzie Delta Producers Group, told Petroleum News the memorandum is a matter to be handled by the Deh Cho and the authorities, although the Mackenzie proponents are “obviously very interested” in the response of governments and regulators.

The Deh Cho want to establish a seven-person panel, with two seats for Deh Cho representatives.

Draft MOU calls for sustainable development

It must also deal with three objectives of sustainable development:

• Preservation of the ecosystem integrity, including the capability of natural systems to maintain their structure and functions and to support biological diversity.

• Respect for the right of future generations to the sustainable use of renewable resources.

• Attainment of durable and equitable social and economic benefits.

Further bolstering their position, the Deh Cho selected George Erasmus as their new chief negotiator for land claim and self-government talks.

Erasmus, a former national chief of Canada’s Assembly of First Nations and a former president of the Dene Nation, took over the post Jan. 26.

He dismissed those who portray the Deh Cho as a “radical” group, arguing the communities must be cautious about any resource development while their land and political rights remain unresolved.

Erasmus said that in some ways the Deh Cho “find themselves in the same position that the Dene did as a whole, some 25 years ago, when the first Mackenzie Valley pipeline and other development was on the horizon.”

At that time, Erasmus led the Dene Nation, with Norwegian as his vice president, in stalling the first Mackenzie pipeline plan until land claims agreements were reached.

Norwegian said the new “dream team” of negotiators is designed to “bring some good energy to the table,” and reach a resolution on the pipeline issues.

Deh Cho offer seized mineral claim as gift to new cabinet minister, but it came with a twist

Gary Park

Petroleum News Calgary correspondent

They’ve delivered a mineral claim from the Mackenzie Valley to Indian Affairs and Northern Development Minister Andy Mitchell.

But it’s more than the usual claim stake. It comes with a twist.

The Deh Cho have wrapped the claim in a proposed memorandum of understanding that outlines their conditions for participating in the C$5 billion Mackenzie gas pipeline project. (See MOU story this page.)

The package Mitchell received on Jan. 23 included one of the stakes from mineral claims filed along the planned pipeline route by Maureen Bernier, the wife of Paul Bernier, who is on paid leave from his job as vice president of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency.

Last summer, the Deh Cho discovered that Maureen Bernier held what they described as 12 “fishy” mineral claims that were filed in 1998.

Paul Bernier has been with the environmental agency since 1994 and, in that role, helped broker a deal to streamline approval of the Mackenzie pipeline.

“The role played by Paul Bernier in securing the cooperation agreement further invalidates the (pipeline review process),” the Deh Cho said in their statement Jan. 23.

The Deh Cho said it was “illegal, under the Territorial Lands Act, for a federal employee to have a direct or indirect interest in land in the Northwest Territories.”

Investigation of claims under way

In the meantime, the Deh Cho asked Mitchell to nullify the Bernier claims.

Instead, Mitchell’s department “extended the rights of the claim holders,” at which point the Deh Cho “declared a bounty ($100 for every stake removed) on the claim posts, which have become a symbol of the government’s disregard for the wishes of the local people.”

One of those stakes landed on Mitchell’s desk, along with a proposal for involving the Deh Cho in the pipeline review.

Grand Chief Herb Norwegian said in a statement that the Deh Cho were “disappointed in the response” from Mitchell’s predecessor, Robert Nault.

“We are hoping that Mr. Mitchell will take another look at our very reasonable requests, to cancel (the Bernier claims) and to meaningfully involve the Deh Cho communities in reviewing the pipeline which is set to cross our land.

“We have sent him these gifts as symbols of our desire to move forward with a new minister, a new government and a new relationship,” Norwegian said.