Thank you.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee.
My name is Thomas Kabloona. I am the chair of the Nunavut Water Board and I live in Baker Lake, Nunavut.
With me today are Dionne Filiatrault, executive director of the Nunavut Water Board, located in Gjoa Haven, Nunavut; and Stephanie Autut, executive director of the Nunavut Impact Review Board, located in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut.
Lucassie Arragutainaq, chair of the Nunavut Impact Review Board, asked that I express his regrets to you. He is unable to attend today, as he is on medical leave.
First of all, thank you for the invitation to speak with you today.
We are presenting jointly, as the boards have common views on the barriers and solutions to economic development in Nunavut. Today we would like to review the main points of our written brief and answer any questions you may have.
First, I would like to tell you about the work of the boards and about Nunavut. The Nunavut Impact Review Board and the Water Board are institutions of public government created by the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement, or NLCA.
NIRB's mandate encompasses the environmental impact assessment of proposed development projects and the monitoring of approved development projects. The primary objective of the board is to protect and promote the existing and future well-being of the residents and communities and to protect the ecosystemic integrity of the Nunavut settlement area, while taking into account the well-being of residents of Canada outside the Nunavut settlement area.
NIRB is a safeguard to ensure that environmentally, socially, economically responsible developments occur in the Nunavut settlement area, which we will refer to generally in our presentation as Nunavut.
The water board, under the authority of article 13 of the NLCA, as well as the Nunavut Waters and Nunavut Surface Rights Tribunal Act, then goes to work to license the use of fresh water in Nunavut and deposits of waste that may enter into these waters.
The objectives of the water board are to provide for the conservation and utilization of fresh water in Nunavut in a manner that will provide for the optimum benefit for those waters for residents of Nunavut in particular and Canadians in general.
Nunavut is unique. It is a vast territory, with 26,000 people living in 28 communities widely scattered across two million square kilometres. Communities are accessible only by air and by sea. Our language, Inuktitut, is spoken by 80% of the population. Half of the population is under the age of 21. Many do not hold high school certificates. The unemployment rate is 20%.
The result is that in tiny hamlets with limited capacity, narrow labour markets and limited employment opportunities leave many Inuit dependent on the land and water to fulfill their needs.
This puts into context why the NLCA provides the right for Inuit to participate in decision making concerning the use, management, and conservation of land, water, and resources.
The boards are also required, to the extent consistent with the principles of natural justice and procedural fairness, to emphasize flexibility and informality, giving due regard and weight to the traditions of Inuit oral communication in decision-making. Working in three official languages to ensure a process that respects oral traditions creates unique challenges.
Both boards rely on consultation with all levels of community and governments to carry out our work, and the efficiency of the process is affected by the capacity issues realized on all these levels.
The reality in Nunavut is that the people and communities to engage in the regulatory process are limited. With this background in mind, I hope you will understand when I say that while the boards fully support the government's vision of a new north that realizes the full socio-economic potential and secures its future for the benefit of all Canadians, we do so with a cautious eye to the challenges that increased economic activity will bring.
I will ask Stephanie and Dionne to speak more specifically to the barriers and the solutions.