Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee on June 16th, 2009

[Lou Covello]

Yes.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Thank you very much, Mr. Bagnell.

Now we'll go to Mr. Albrecht for five minutes, followed by Mr. Lévesque.

[Harold Albrecht, Conservative, Kitchener—Conestoga, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thanks to our witnesses for being here.

I just wanted to clarify a couple of things. Mr. Covello, you made a comment about the increased number of job opportunities resulting in a dramatic increase in post-secondary education interest and follow-through. Could you just give me those numbers again? I wasn't able to get those down. I thought you said 100 to 200. Is that right?

[Lou Covello]

That's right. In 1998 I think there was one secondary school graduate from Bishop Cove who went on to post-secondary education. Over the last three or four years, it's been closer to 200.

[Harold Albrecht, Conservative, Kitchener—Conestoga, ON]

I think that's good news for the future.

I want to come back to Mr. Ottenbreit and some of the comments you made relating to the economic development challenges. Before I get to that, you gave some figures, as well, regarding capacity. The current amount is 830 million cubic feet, but the capacity is 1.3 billion.

[Randy Ottenbreit]

I indicated that the three anchor fields could cumulatively produce 830 million cubic feet per day. The size of the Mackenzie Valley gas pipeline is for 1.8 billion cubic feet per day, which is more than twice the size of the three anchor fields. The point of making that comparison is to indicate that room has been provided for other supplies of gas to be shipped from the north.

[Harold Albrecht, Conservative, Kitchener—Conestoga, ON]

Okay. Thank you.

Back to the challenges you outlined--the physical environment, infrastructure, long distances, and so on--you spent a lot of time on the regulatory challenges you have there. I think you said that there were previously 17 regulators trying to now cooperate on one common environmental review, but in the process, it really hasn't seemed to speed things up very much. There were 21 months of study and a 24-month period for the report. How can we address that? That's a concern to me.

[Randy Ottenbreit]

The reference to the 17 regulators and the work they did goes back to the years 2000-2001, which led to the issuance of a report called the cooperation plan in June 2002. The work done in 2000-2001 was intended to facilitate or simplify the process of going through regulatory approvals. The environmental assessment is one part of that. The other part is getting the permits the regulators process.

On the environmental assessment side, we had understood from the cooperation plan that it would take about ten months for both the hearings and the report. But yes, it is taking longer. We're in the midst of that process, so it is unfolding. As it is, I think it's not at a point where things can be done. We're awaiting the result. Our understanding is that a report from the joint review panel will be issued in December of this year. Yes, it is a lengthy process.

[Harold Albrecht, Conservative, Kitchener—Conestoga, ON]

On that lengthy process, you made a comment—and I may have misunderstood you, so I'll stand to be corrected—that sometimes there's leverage exerted upon the applicant to do something that's outside the environmental part of it to get special recognition, possibly. I'm not sure what the actual end result or end goal of applying the leverage is. Could you clarify that?

[Randy Ottenbreit]

This refers not to the environmental assessment process, but we talked about this--

[Harold Albrecht, Conservative, Kitchener—Conestoga, ON]

Permit part.

[Randy Ottenbreit]

This is more the permitting side. The legislation is such that if certain parties were to request an environmental assessment, an environmental assessment would be conducted. We have run into some instances where an individual community was upset about the awarding of a particular contract. Since they didn't get the contract, they issued a request for an environmental assessment. An environmental assessment is done, which slows down or stops the work from proceeding. So it's really a dissatisfaction with contract awards that sometimes can show up in the regulatory permitting process.

[Harold Albrecht, Conservative, Kitchener—Conestoga, ON]

Thank you.

Back to the Yukon and Ms. Derome, or possibly Scott, as I'm not sure which one of you discussed this, in terms of the infrastructure and the importance of connecting to the B.C. power grid, I was wondering if you could comment at all on B.C.'s application for funding from the green fund. Could you comment on what the impact would be on those first nations communities that currently rely on generators for their electrical power, not only in reducing greenhouse gas emissions but also with it probably being a better and reliable source of electricity?

[Claire Derome]

I will comment from the Yukon perspective, because I don't think it's very different in northern B.C. If you are not connected to the grid, you're on diesel generation. Now that we are almost at the point where all the capacity on the grid has been used, there is very little spare capacity, even with the newly announced project for the Mayo B upgrade. That will add some capacity, but it is really not providing a long-term expansion of the grid.

So yes, in regard to the green fund, anything that can help the generation of electricity--from hydroelectric or any of these renewable resources--will bring immediate benefits. B.C. has applied for it. I think the Yukon has also applied for it. It's certainly a worthwhile alternative to pursue.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Thank you, Madam.

Mr. Lévesque, you have five minutes.

[Yvon Lévesque, Bloc, Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I will address Scott first. In your presentation, if I understood correctly, you said that 75% of the territory is exempt from potential mining and gas prospecting and harvesting. I thought that that was perhaps with a view to the creation of parks. Is the creation of these parks a prerogative of the territory or of the federal government?

[Scott Kent]

Certainly what I had mentioned is that there is a land use planning process under way. It was part of the umbrella final agreement, which is the overarching federal legislation for our land claims settlements up there.

We've had two regions undertake land use plans to this point. In the north Yukon region, we've seen 50% of the land withdrawn from mineral exploration, and a significant amount, I believe, withdrawn from oil and gas exploration as well. Moving down to the Peel watershed area, which is currently under review, a draft plan is before the Yukon public and comments are being made as we speak. It recommends that 63% of that land mass, which I believe is almost 10,000 square kilometres, be removed from new mineral exploration, new staking, which is of course a big concern to us.

We rank third behind the Northwest Territories and British Columbia as far as land mass that's protected is concerned. It's a suite of different protected areas, from national parks--Kluane, Ivvavik, and Vuntut--to territorial parks such as Tombstone and Fishing Branch, and then there are some of the first nations special management areas that are currently being developed.

So with what we've seen in the north Yukon and the Peel watershed, we could be upwards of having 25% to 30% of land withdrawn from mineral exploration, and that's with six more plans to go, which is a very big concern to our industry. It's precedent-setting with regard to these land use planning processes that have become protected area strategies.

[Yvon Lévesque, Bloc, Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC]

I understand that it's different from Quebec. I'm not really familiar with the regulations that apply to the territories. In Nunavut, it's a little bit different. I spend some of my time in Nunavik. Nunavut is a territory, where Nunavik is not.

Ms. Strand, you referred to training and education in Nunavut. Are people in Nunavut trained in Nunavut in their field, or are they sent to Montreal, Quebec City or Ottawa to be trained?

[Pamela Strand]

Yes, it's a bit of both. At the present time that is something that occurs in southern Canada, but there is a new initiative now with the Arctic College and the Government of Nunavut. They're building a trades school in the community of Rankin Inlet that will replace some of the southern training that currently occurs. There's a mines round table for training, and that's number one on their priority now, so that the Inuit can take advantage of the future mine jobs that are on the horizon.

[Yvon Lévesque, Bloc, Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC]

Do businesses contribute to the training of these people in their area by providing funding?

I would like to remind Mr. Covello that it is logical that young Inuit or aboriginals are more inclined to study when they have a vision of the future. That's why development is important in the territories. Young people need to be able to look to the future to be encouraged to study, instead of taking drugs or consuming alcohol. That gives them hope and broadens their horizons, often for the first time.

Ms. Derome, the Quebec government, the federal government and businesses plan to contribute matching funding to build a road to the Otish Mountains to operate diamond mines. Are there similar plans for the Yukon?

[Claire Derome]

That may be the case in future, but currently, no program exists to study this component.

I am part of a group of corporations that have gotten together to discuss the extension of a road in a sector that interests us in particular, and that is certainly something that we would be prepared to discuss with the government.

At this stage, the opportunities are fairly limited. Yukon Territory is different from Nunavut and the Northwest Territories, because it has obtained jurisdiction over natural resources. They come under territorial jurisdiction, as does road development and other areas. In addition, the budget we have for this purpose is very limited.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Thank you, Ms. Derome and Mr. Lévesque.

Mr. Bevington, do you have another question?

[Dennis Bevington, NDP, Western Arctic, NT]

There are still a few people to go yet.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

I jumped ahead. I was back on the round one order there.

Let's go to Mr. Clarke.

Mr. Bevington, I will ask, though, do you want to be on the list for the next question after Mr. Clarke?

[Dennis Bevington, NDP, Western Arctic, NT]

Okay.