Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee on Nov. 19th, 2009

[Chief Steve Nitah, Chief of the Lutsel K'e Dene First Nation, Akaitcho Treaty 8 Dene]

Mahsi cho, honourable members of Parliament. Welcome to Akaitcho territory. As a former member of the Government of the Northwest Territories and the legislature and as a former chair of standing committees that travelled throughout the territories giving public hearings, I understand the challenges that are faced by the honourable members here today.

My name is Steve Nitah. I'm the chief of the Lutsel K'e Dene First Nations. I'll be making a presentation on behalf of the Akaitcho Dene First Nations that are negotiating the implementation of the treaty of 1900.

With me today, along with Chief Ted Tsetta, is Sharon Venne, our technical advisor to the process.

There is a large workshop going on in my community right now—a governance workshop. We flew out of there at five today, and we'll be flying back to Lutsel K'e this evening to continue the workshop tomorrow. So we all have very busy schedules.

The presentation I will give this evening is in two parts: one on economic development, and another on political development that speaks to decision-making in the jurisdiction.

Thanks for giving us this opportunity to speak. We have prepared a statement, which is in the package of materials. I'll give a short summary of the presentation. To the members who are French-speaking, we apologize. We did not have the time to prepare our documents in the French language, but we will provide documents in that language. As Dene speakers, we understand the importance of communicating in the language we are comfortable in.

As I indicated, we are Akaitcho Dene. We number nearly 4,000. There's a map in our presentation. We have an approximate land mass of 468,000 square kilometres, which is, by the way, larger than the state of France. We have the largest non-Dene population living within our territory—that is, the city of Yellowknife—which presents unique challenges and opportunities for us in Akaitcho.

Our forefathers negotiated and concluded a peace and friendship treaty with the crown in 1900. At this time, we are in the process of negotiating with Canada on the understanding and clarification of rights within our territory for Dene and non-Dene alike. We are preparing 17 chapters of the proposed 23 chapters of the Akaitcho agreement. We will table these chapters with the federal government in March 2010. I will return to this later in my presentation.

While we have been busy trying to find solutions, Akaitcho has not experienced a similar benefit. At this time, our territory contributes more than 51% of the GDP of the Northwest Territories. We are the economic engine of the Northwest Territories, but we do not see tangible outcomes from our contributions.

Let me review very briefly, gentlemen, some of the efforts Akaitcho has been engaged in for the development of solutions that support economic development in the Northwest Territories.

In March 2001 we negotiated an interim measures agreement with Canada and the Government of the Northwest Territories. Then there was a ministerial directive to clarify the operation of the interim measures agreement and give further guidance on the issue of permits and licensing within Akaitcho territory.

In November 2006 there was an order to withdraw 1,034 hectares within the city of Yellowknife. It was a unique withdrawal within a municipality. Akaitcho believes that this was the first such withdrawal within a municipality in Canada. In addition, there was a special feature of the withdrawal. There is an opportunity to have an economic project on some of the withdrawn lands. In the three years since the withdrawal, we have not been able to take advantage of this unique feature, since we are unable to get an interim economic package from the federal government, which we were negotiating as a companion to this withdrawal. Unfortunately, there was a change in government and a change in direction.

We would like support from the committee members for an interim economic package so we can take advantage of the specific and unique language of the land withdrawal within the city of Yellowknife. In November of 2007 we withdrew lands for a proposed national park and other lands. This is a further indication of Akaitcho's attempt to provide Canada with a level of comfort within our territory.

The Akaitcho Dene have developed mineral exploration guidelines for companies wishing to conduct mineral exploration activities wholly or partially in Akaitcho territory. The Akaitcho Dene took this step following the Supreme Court of Canada decision in the Taku Tlingit case. In that case, on the issue of consultation, the Supreme Court of Canada said that first nations should indicate the level of consultation they would like to see within their territory.

Well, Akaitcho has been trying to work with industry and government. The federal government put in place a northern economic strategy with the creation of a northern economic development agency. As Dene, we want to be involved in these kinds of discussions when we are providing the stable environment for industry to take place within our territory. We have a lot of questions concerning the new agency set up by the federal government, and we raise three at this point. There are other questions in the presentation package.

First, what was the level of consultation with the constitutional rights holders prior to the government's announcement? None.

Dene chiefs should have been involved from the beginning in shaping the structure and the policy and priorities of this new agency.

Three, it is totally economically driven by the needs of the south. What about the needs and aspirations of the Dene in the north? The development of the agency is in marked contrast to the findings of the Harvard Project. We are raising it in our presentation as it has direct relevance to your work and our work.

Let us turn to some of the key indicators and findings of the study.

One, control of decision-making is essential to economic development. Let me emphasize this point. When a body outside of an indigenous nation makes the decisions, economic development does not work. This cannot be overemphasized.

Two, self-governance alone is no guarantee of success. The Harvard study found that sovereignty was essential. What did sovereignty mean for the study? Sovereignty meant the ability to make your own decisions. The most successful indigenous nations were the ones that could create the environment in which investors felt secure.

Three, what is a good governance structure? There must be a strong dispute mechanism that guarantees people that their investment will be secure. In the Akaitcho negotiations, we looked at nine agreements with chapters on dispute resolutions. Our conclusions were that these chapters are not workable since the dispute mechanisms were not built on indigenous values but rather on non-indigenous values. An Akaitcho independent study came to the same conclusion as the Harvard study.

Four, good governance requires human input at all levels of institutional development. There must be people within the indigenous leadership who can articulate a new vision for the nation's future based on Dene values and beliefs. There must be a willingness to understand and encourage the foundational changes that such a vision requires. There needs to be strategic thinking to move away from crisis management and opportunistic quick fixes toward long-term decision-making that incorporates community priorities, concerns, circumstances, and assets. That means looking at all the indicators and making strategic decisions rather than quick fixes.

Our elders understood the process of strategic thinking, which allowed them to survive in Denendeh. These values must be used and incorporated into the daily decision-making of the Dene.

The Harvard study found that the most successful indigenous nations have good governance structures. The governance models must match indigenous concepts of how authority should be organized and exercised. Institutions and models designed for non-indigenous people and imposed on indigenous nations are a recipe for disaster. The Harvard study found that quick fixes do not work.

What is a quick fix? A quick fix is where decisions are made to solve all indigenous nations' problems rather than building a strong, basic, incremental economy. Most of the quick-fix solutions that were investigated had common problems. Indigenous nations let the federal government make this decision for them. The federal government decided what projects would be funded and what projects would not be funded. This effectively removed the development agenda from the indigenous nations.

There was no strategic work with indigenous nations by the federal government so that the indigenous nations could set their own priorities and think carefully about them.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Chief, we're at 10 minutes right now. We're going to go over your time. How much more have you got there?

[Chief Steve Nitah]

Well, I'll just go to the conclusion then.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Good. With whatever you have to skip over to finish up, there will likely be an opportunity that you could address those points in the course of answers to questions that come up. But if not, as you pointed out, your thorough briefing will be available to all members in printed form as well.

If you would go to the conclusion, that would be terrific. Thank you, Chief.

[Chief Steve Nitah]

Okay. To summarize, there are two things.

We are in negotiations to finalize an agreement with Canada that stipulates the relationship between the Akaitcho Dene and the people of Canada, as represented by the Government of Canada and the Government of the Northwest Territories, by which the Akaitcho wishes to make decisions that affect their lives on economic development, social development, and so on.

A more specific and immediate request we have is the economic package, which we were negotiating with Canada at the main table to accompany the land withdrawal in the city of Yellowknife, so we can use that interim economic package to invest in the north and create economic opportunities not only for our Akaitcho citizens but for the citizens of the Northwest Territories.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Thank you, Chief.

Now we'll go to our fourth presentation, and that is Mr. Darrell Beaulieu.

Darrell is with the Northern Aboriginal Business Association. Members will know this is one of the witnesses who was able to come somewhat last minute. He agreed to come before us this evening.

Please go ahead with your presentation, and after that we'll go to questions from members.

[Darrell Beaulieu, Chief Executive Officer, Northern Aboriginal Business Association]

Thank you.

I am actually with the Denendeh Development Corporation, which is a group of companies. We established the Northern Aboriginal Business Association. Part of my presentation will include everything.

To give you a little background, the Denendeh Development Corporation was incorporated in 1982 as a not-for-profit corporation. The Northern Aboriginal Business Association was recently incorporated, in 2007, so it is in its infancy. It was DDC that initiated that process.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Darrell, could you give me the name again?

[Darrell Beaulieu]

It's the Denendeh Development Corporation. I believe the clerk has my business card. Actually, I gave him a Denendeh Investments business card, so we will clarify that later.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

I appreciate that. Thank you. Go ahead.

[Darrell Beaulieu]

Just before I start, again, thank you for giving me the opportunity to share some of the concerns and the barriers and proposed solutions for economic development here in the Northwest Territories.

Denendeh Development Corporation is 100% owned by all 27 first nations communities in the NWT. We work to create long-term Dene economic self-sufficiency, and we hold interests in not-for-profit investments in—and you heard the first presenter, Fred Koe—the Métis-Dene Development Fund and a fine traditional art store. If you stay at the Explorer Hotel, you'll notice that Arrowmakers Fine Traditional Art is there. It supports northern aboriginal artists. We hold investments in oil and gas drilling, communications, real estate, power generation, and pipeline construction.

I'm just giving you a brief background of where we're coming from; then I'll give you a brief background on NABA and where it's coming from.

Getting right into it, you may have seen a recent TD Bank study that concluded that increased mutual economic cooperation between aboriginal people, business, and government was having a positive impact on the social well-being of aboriginal people across Canada. I believe that report was recently sent right throughout the nation. This is echoed in Calvin Helin's best-selling book, Dances With Dependency. I'm sure many of you have seen or heard of the book, and I believe Calvin sits on the social committee with the Minister of Finance.

As first nations complete land and self-government agreements with Canada, they're emerging as economic forces, with land bases and control of the resources and capital. With that as background, we at DDC and NABA hold an annual aboriginal business conference. The theme of that conference is establishing economic cooperation. Next year we will be jointly holding it with the NWT Chamber of Commerce, again under the theme of establishing economic cooperation. Annually we have resource development corporations, whether in the mining industry or the oil and gas industry, and governments, the private sector, and aboriginal businesses come together to share some of their knowledge and to look at creating partnerships and investments, etc.

I'm going back and forth a little bit, so bear with me.

In the NWT, aboriginal people have or will have direct control over more than 360,000 or 400,000 square kilometres of land, with both surface and subsurface rights. Right now, I believe, the Inuvialuit have over 90,000 kilometres, the Gwich'in have about 56,000 square kilometres, the Saulteaux about 40,000 square kilometres, and the Tlicho about 39,000 square kilometres. Right now, for the Dehcho and Akaitcho, which haven't completed their processes in treaty implementation and the Dehcho process, I have numbers, but they were sourced by Indian Affairs, so I don't know whether they're right or not and so won't verbalize them here, because those two are still under negotiation.

Turning to economic statistics, again as a background, the GDP growth rate here is over 13% compared with Canada's 4%. The economy has grown from almost $2.5 billion in 1999 to a little over $5 billion in 2008. That's an increase of about 136%. The per capita GDP in the NWT is about $125,000, over twice the national average of $48,000.

Again, this was last-minute, so I sourced this information from the GNWT, just so you're aware, if it wasn't brought out before.

Going back to NABA and aboriginal business in the Northwest Territories as a background, in 1982 there was a handful—maybe about 20—of aboriginal businesses registered in the NWT. In 2006-07 the Denendeh Development Corporation compiled a database. We did a study and found that there were well over 561 aboriginal businesses operating in the Northwest Territories. That's a huge growth. If you look at the NWT business registry, there are 5,000 operating businesses registered here, of which 2,500 are non-resident and 2,500 are resident. Of the 2,500 that are resident, over 500 are aboriginal businesses. I wanted you to see it in that context.

The question is, are the NWT aboriginal businesses benefiting from the strong NWT economy that I spoke of earlier? I think that's the question we need to keep in our minds in looking at the numbers. We have all these numbers--$2 billion from one mine being sold, so much for the oil and gas industry....

I want to get to the barriers now.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

If you could sum up here, that would be great.

[Darrell Beaulieu]

I want to let you know that I have A Hand Up, Not A Handout, the document the Senate put out a couple of years ago. Looking at some of the recommendations there, I ask where they are now. But I want to go to my barriers first.

A lot of this I think echoes what has been said earlier; just a few minutes ago, it was the lack of implementation of finalized agreements. You're probably well aware that the comprehensive claimants have formed an organization and get together on an annual basis. One of the issues they bring up is that the G'wichin and the Saulteaux and the Tlicho have finalized their agreements, but they're not fully implemented to benefit them as they understood they would when they were negotiating. Number two is the lack of meaningful progress in negotiations with the Dehcho and Akaitcho. That's something we have to consider in the big picture, if you're looking at economic development in the Northwest Territories. I'm sure you've heard presentations from the NWT.

Lack of infrastructure is huge, and the cost of living.... Four litres of milk in a community is $18. A one-pound ham is $50, almost.

Lack of infrastructure really has an impact on the cost of living, and not only on the cost of living; it has a huge impact on the cost of development. To get a piece of machinery off the highway and into a northern community along the Mackenzie River or into an inland community such as Lutsel K'e, to get one house.... We've all heard the story of $600,000 matchbox houses in Nunavut. Those are real things that we have to consider in looking at infrastructure.

The procurement policy of the federal government is not really being implemented in the Northwest Territories. I noticed that was a recommendation in the Senate's report. Right now, there are businesses that are not getting the opportunity for any contracts over $5,000 that may be listed on MERX but are not being implemented in the Northwest Territories. That's a barrier.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

We will have to sum up there. I appreciate that there's much to impart, and we become frustrated by this ourselves, but we're doing our best. We appreciate your patience and understanding with the timelines we're working under.

Do you have a final brief sentence or statement, and then we'll go to questions?

[Darrell Beaulieu]

I think one of the more important barriers is the support that's needed for sustainable sectors such as forestry, fishing, hunting, and trapping. I want to finish off with my solutions, and it will be very quick.

Solutions: full implementation of the completed agreements; just and timely resolution of the negotiations that are in progress, more specifically approval of the Mackenzie Valley Highway; approval of the Mackenzie Valley gas project; continued support for communications and technology; development of hydro and wind power capabilities and reliable and affordable public utilities; and creation of a northern university. I'm sure you've heard that education is such an important piece in the development of any society. Lastly, I didn't get to speak on the CanNor component...but real consultation with first nations, including their participation in the design and implementation of issues that will affect them here in the Northwest Territories.

With that, Mr. Chair, thank you very much.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Merci, Monsieur Beaulieu. I appreciate that--and to all our presenters here this evening.

Now we will go to questions from members. The questions are in a pre-set order agreed to by the committee and they represent questions from each of the four parties represented on the standing committee. The five minutes allowed are both for the question and the answer. Obviously, the more succinct we can keep both of those, the more we'll be able to cover in the short time we have.

We'll begin the first round of questions with Mr. Russell for five minutes.

Mr. Russell.

[Todd Russell, Liberal, Labrador, NL]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Good evening to each of you. We've been warmly received in Akaitcho territory. It's hard to say; it was minus 20, but we've been warmly received, there's no doubt about that. And I'm sure it's going to get a bit colder as the days and weeks move forward.

I just want to go back to a couple of statements made by Chief Nitah. You said you signed an interim measures agreement. Is that agreement being honoured by all parties? Can you give us a little more background on that? Are there any conflicts around that particular agreement? I think you said it dealt with permits and licensing. I just want you to flesh it out for us a little more.

In terms of your treaty implementation negotiations, you indicated that 17 chapters will be completed and submitted to the federal government by March 2010. Am I right in saying that? What does that mean when we have 17 of 20-plus chapters? What would happen at that point once it gets submitted? I'm curious, because March 2010 is going to come up, and what does that mean for us as members of Parliament? Will we have a bill to deal with at that particular time in the House? I will be quite interested in hearing what you have to say about those different issues.

[Chief Steve Nitah]

Thank you for those questions.

The interim measures agreement is just that, an interim agreement that allows for Ottawa to give us some financial resources to set up an Akaitcho screening board, which doesn't have the same authority or legislative backing as the Wek'èezhìi or other boards created in the Mackenzie Valley. This board consists of two members from each of our first nations, working with administrative staff. It centralizes as a one-stop shop the ability of interested companies that want to do exploration or other activities in the Akaitcho territory.

The office receives the permit applications and reviews them in terms of their technical aspects and determines which of the first nations would be impacted the most. It then sends the application to the affected first nations with recommendations of how to respond. It simplifies exploration activities in the Akaitcho territory.

The 17 chapters that I speak about are out of the 23 chapters that will make up the Akaitcho agreement and the implementation of the treaty as we agreed to at the time. What has happened there is that the federal negotiating team gave us an offer, back in March of this year, saying the progress being made at the main table was not sufficient and suggesting therefore that we develop our own language to these chapters.

We agreed to do 17 chapters. We started the work, effectively, in August of this year. We're working towards finalizing those chapters by the end of this calendar year so that we can take those chapters to our membership for their review and approval. Once they approve it, we will submit that to the negotiating team, the federal government. We can provide the committee members with copies of the chapters. Once the federal government receives the chapters, they will review those chapters and determine whether there's enough common ground between the Akaitcho and the federal negotiating team to see if there's a willingness to pursue further negotiations. If there's a willingness, the negotiations will continue.

Hopefully we'll finalize the other five chapters to have an agreement in principle by the end of fiscal year 2010 and an Akaitcho agreement shortly thereafter. If that doesn't happen, the work we've been doing in creating a positive investment plan in the Akaitcho territory would be jeopardized.

As I indicated, the Akaitcho territory is the economic engine behind the Northwest Territories. Three of the diamond mines are within our territory. The fourth one that's under consideration, the Gahcho Kué De Beers project is in our territory. Avalon Rare Metals is in our territory. There's more to the west. There's uranium to the east and gold around here. The only commercial fishing in the Northwest Territories is happening in our territory, and we haven't benefited one cent from Canada yet.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Thank you, Mr. Russell. The five minutes have elapsed.

I want to interject at one point here in terms of setting the context for our discussions.

It's very clear, by the way, that the issues of which you speak tonight in fact have been reiterated certainly quite well by yourselves this evening, but this is also a message we're hearing as an important component to advancing economic development as it relates to the Yukon. We heard this message in the Yukon and we're hearing it again here in NWT.

We're certainly understand what you've presented us with here tonight, realizing that the standing committee isn't in a position, for example, to arbitrate or to be an arbiter in terms of taking that forward. You have specific concerns, from what I can see, with the process of implementing final agreements. You've given us some good examples of that. We're not able, as a committee, to necessarily solve that issue. I'm sure you probably understand that's not the case. But in the context of our understanding of why this is important for advancing better economic outcomes in the north, the examples you give us here are important.

I just want you, Chiefs, to know and understand that we're not in a position to necessarily solve or be the means by which you can advance that process. This is something, of course, that I'm sure you and your representatives for Akaitcho will continue to do with the government.

With that, we'll carry on to our second question.

Go ahead, Mr. Lévesque.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Good evening, sirs. I have some questions for Mr. Koe and for Chief Tsetta.

Mr. Koe, you alluded in your presentation to the supply problem and to supply costs. I'm not quite sure I understand. I thought the road stretched at least as far as Yellowknife. This morning, mention was made of completing the valley highway. I'm not that familiar with this territory. I represent the northern Quebec riding of Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou.

Since you do have land transportation options, could you not bring in the supplies during the off season, that is during the fall and winter? That way, in the summer, the supplies would already be close by.

Chief Tsetta, you stated that economic development was not one of your priorities. However, if companies wanted to exploit some of your territory's natural resources, would you be open to the idea of working with them?

[Fred Koe]

Yes, the road from the south comes to Yellowknife. This is a terminus of this highway. To service the mines we use winter roads over the ice, and they are able to get their supplies during the winter. Not all our communities in the north have access to roads. The southern Mackenzie has a good network. The Mackenzie Delta has a highway--the Dempster Highway to Inuvik--and then they have winter access to the communities, including Tuktoyaktuk. Other communities on the Beaufort coast and the smaller communities down the Mackenzie River don't have access to roads.

So yes, if we can get an all-weather road--and the suggestion was made by my colleague Darrell to extend the Mackenzie Highway right down the valley--we think that would open up a tremendous amount of economic activity.

[Chief Ted Tsetta]

Thank you.

When I was talking about economic development, I wasn't saying it's not important. It is always a key to the door. Economic development has in the past opened doors in different locations in Canada. It always has done a lot more than just giving you education. That's why I referred to economic development as a tool. Education, for me, is the main goal here, to educate the people in the northern university to develop economic development...with higher grades--how northern Canada can have the highest level of education with economic development, both combined into one. My point was that economic development is important to us in the north, and education is also important. It really opens the doors to royalties, payments, and so on.

One of the biggest issues we have here in the north is that once the material and the minerals are taken out and go south, very little is ever brought back. That's the problem we have in the north. Other people benefit from our resources, right from our back door here in Yellowknife. For 80 years they've been mining and we're left with the destruction. We can't even sell that any more. So it's a very tough ticket to sell without economic development.

Last, we have always had land in the north around this territory, and now our land is diminishing, the water is getting contaminated, our wildlife is diminishing. What we have left is over here to the far east, so we have to make sure we protect whatever is left out here.

I'm sorry I got you on the wrong foot there, but economic development and education work side by side, making sure everything is done by regulation and with proper management.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Thank you, Mr. Lévesque.

Thank you, Chief.

We will now go to Mr. Bevington.

[Dennis Bevington, NDP, Western Arctic, NT]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

It's great that you were able to come before us tonight. I am concerned that in these hearings we have as many opportunities to hear from the aboriginal governments as possible, and I'm glad you've made that time to do so tonight.

As you know, we have a CanNor agency now that has, I think without much consultation with anyone.... In the spring we had presentations from the ADM of INAC that there was going to be extensive consultations on it. What we see now is that this agency has been set up, certain things have happened, political decisions have been made. How can this be rectified, in your mind, to ensure that the aboriginal governments, the aboriginal corporations, have a proper consultative say in the work going forward for this economic development agency? Do you have any practical suggestions for us to provide to the government?

[Chief Steve Nitah]

In an environment such as the north, where first nations people, indigenous people, make up half or more of the population, it is important that their values, their desires, are incorporated into any major decision in the area of economic development. Let's face it, the north is an exporting part of the world. We export everything. We don't grow anything here. We export everything. We are exporting minerals, renewable resources, and non-renewable resources. Accessing these resources has an impact on our lives. It has environmental impacts. It has socio-economic impacts. It has cultural and spiritual impacts.

That happens all the time. My colleague talked about the Con and Giant mines. Those are quick fixes: let's put a lot of federal money into it and create some jobs. At the end of the day, the taxpayers pay for the cleanup. I hope those days are done.

When it comes to economic development, the meaningful involvement of the people who are going to be most affected should be a priority for any government that wants to create institutions for economic development. That isn't happening. How do we guarantee sustainable economic development for ourselves? In the case of the Akaitcho territories, I just gave you a synopsis of what's happening. There has been no discussion with the people of Akaitcho.

Speaking about the pace of development in the Akaitcho territory, 100 years from now there may be no resources for people. We don't have a concise operational plan for how to mitigate the communal impacts of all the different projects. As a people, we are not benefiting from them right now. Some people are getting jobs. A lot of them don't get jobs, because of criminal records or other encumbrances. Our businesses are having a hard time getting their foot in the door, because we don't have access to capital. We don't have investment dollars to get capital. We were trying to negotiate an interim economic package in the Akaitcho territory, so that we'd get the financial resources to make investments. In the Northwest Territories, 90¢ on every investment dollar goes south. That is the reality of our lives. Any development in the Northwest Territories is going to benefit Canadians as much as it benefits the people of the Northwest Territories.

Thank you.