Evidence of meeting #15 for Natural Resources in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was north.
A recording is available from Parliament.
5:05 p.m.
NDP
Kennedy Stewart NDP Burnaby—Douglas, BC
That's right, it's the circumpolar Inuit declaration, clause 3.7.
5:05 p.m.
Director, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami
Okay, because I thought you were talking about the resource development.
5:05 p.m.
NDP
5:05 p.m.
Senior Policy Advisor, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami
Thank you for that. I'll just add a bit of context.
As members will appreciate, these two declarations were done by Inuit representatives from four circumpolar countries. There was a discussion among not only Inuit in Canada, but also Inuit from Greenland, Alaska, and Chukotka. These two declarations represent an attempt to balance out the competing, or at least variant, views of Inuit in different countries.
Inuit in all these countries acknowledge, of course, that there's a balancing act between economic development and environmental protection. I'm sure that's a very familiar theme in this committee, from all kinds of delegations.
The interest in resource development came up primarily, at least initially, in the context of Arctic sovereignty. Precisely because of the need to work through that balancing act, circumpolar Inuit came up with a more detailed declaration on resource development. You'll see much more detailed principles, attempting to strike the right balance between those two competing objectives.
5:05 p.m.
NDP
Kennedy Stewart NDP Burnaby—Douglas, BC
Sorry, perhaps I could just steer you a bit.
We're hearing a lot about partnerships between companies and native communities, with companies saying that they're working very well and that lots of training is going on. But then we hear a lot about a lack of capacity.
What I'm actually interested in is your perspective on these two issues. Are you pleased with how well the partnerships are moving forward? And how about the lack of capacity issue?
Thank you.
5:05 p.m.
Director, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami
Thank you very much. Good question.
Going back to this particular declaration, including the resource one, I've spoken to the people at the Inuit Circumpolar Council about setting up a process by which they will implement these particular declarations. They're going through the process now, getting the resources to build that implementation approach on those declarations, because they are quite broad and apply to a large area in the circumpolar world. It is also a suggestion by the ICC to make the point at this committee that there is very much an important role Inuit can play on a circumpolar level with respect to these developments. Inuit can speak to other Inuit in Russia, Alaska, and Greenland, and can discuss these issues on a broad level, including oil and gas, offshore, etc. There is also a particular role Inuit can play across that board within their own organizations and their own group. So that's an important part of the whole discussion strategy. The declarations themselves aren't just declarations but also signals that Inuit want to be players in the circumpolar world and make decisions, and to help make those decisions.
In terms of the training aspects, as you probably know, there are a lot of challenges in trying to get people trained in particular areas of employment, careers, and so forth, when the school system and the education achievements are fairly low. It's not just today that you have people wanting to get jobs, but you have to look at a long-term goal to get the educational achievements of young Inuit up, get them graduating. That's why the education strategy that President Simon talked about...she's wanting to get as much support from various players who want this as a fundamental building block, even if it's for the industry side, for jobs, for government, and so forth. I think it's important that the long-term education strategy be focused not just on the immediate term, where there might only be four people being trained at a given site or whatever, or there are retention issues....
I think there's the broader, long-term vision that needs to be looked at. I think we'd welcome discussions with the various industry folks around this table, and others, and to discuss this with Mary Simon as well, to see how they can participate in that particular development.
5:10 p.m.
NDP
Kennedy Stewart NDP Burnaby—Douglas, BC
Thank you.
I have one question for the companies. We've heard a lot about things that would perhaps speed up processes. I'm wondering if more staff on the review boards, on the CEA, the folks who are reviewing your applications, would help speed this up, or if that's something you might care to comment on.
5:10 p.m.
President and Chief Operating Officer, Agnico-Eagle Mines Limited
I think additional staff would definitely help, and that is part of the solution. I think the other part of the solution is to have continuity, and not to have anywhere between two to three project leaders on a file and then have to redo it. If there's continuity, that would greatly help. If there were additional resources and staff, that would help as well. In certain instances, industry has offered to pay for extra capacity, if necessary, if only to speed up the process. Those would be three of the things that would help the process.
5:10 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Leon Benoit
Your time is up, Mr. Stewart.
We go now to Mr. Hsu, for up to seven minutes if you'd like. Go ahead.
November 23rd, 2011 / 5:10 p.m.
Liberal
Ted Hsu Liberal Kingston and the Islands, ON
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I would like to start off with Mr. Scherkus. I was looking at the companies here. We have a U.S. company—I was looking in this book—and there's a South African company, a British company, and an Australian company. But you're a Canadian company.
My question to you is, does that make a difference? Does that make a difference to the people who live in the north, who want to derive the benefits from the natural resources available in the north?
5:10 p.m.
President and Chief Operating Officer, Agnico-Eagle Mines Limited
We believe it does. The main reason we developed the Meadowbank project is that we used our home base in northwestern Quebec, just south of James Bay, and Val-d'Or in the Abitibi, and we could leverage all of our experience, our workforce, and still use a model very similar to what Xstrata is using with Raglan. We believe if it wasn't for that...when we first looked at Cumberland during the boom of the tar sands, we could not compete. When we look at the Canadian flag and the Inuit flag flying over the camp at Meadowbank, we as a company are proud. We've been in business in Canada for over 54 years. The Agnico park has been in business for over 100 years. Yes, we're staunchly Canadian.
One small anecdote. When we poured our first gold on February 27, 2010, that was the first gold from a mine on Inuit-owned land. The next evening, Sidney Crosby scored and it was a Canadian gold, so it was a great one-two punch.
5:15 p.m.
Liberal
Ted Hsu Liberal Kingston and the Islands, ON
Maybe I should give some other witnesses a chance to comment or add to that.
5:15 p.m.
Executive Director, NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines
I'm a Canadian, too, and I have to stand with Canadian patriotism. I also worked at the Diavik Mine, and we were owned 60% by Rio Tinto, which is a British-Australian firm, and 40% by a Canadian firm. I would say that company as well took a leadership role. Rio Tinto was head of the global mining initiative to try to push sustainable development to new boundaries. They chaired that—along with lots of other companies working all over the world. They were also asked to contribute to northern benefits through participation agreements—IBAs, if you will—through socio-economic agreements, and they stepped up to the plate to do that. They're also the ones that have wind turbines up, and they're trying to do new things with them. They're also leaders.
I'd like to say Canadians are the best, and I personally believe that, but they're all good operators and they have their hearts in the right places. Another thing is that I think communities and government push them hard, too, and they ask them for commitments, doing socio-economic assessments and environmental assessments.
5:15 p.m.
Liberal
Ted Hsu Liberal Kingston and the Islands, ON
Let me switch subjects. There are several levels to this question. I think we keep statistics about the number of jobs in the mining industry in the north. What percentage of the jobs are local employees? I think we do keep those statistics, don't we?
5:15 p.m.
President and Chief Operating Officer, Agnico-Eagle Mines Limited
In our situation at the Meadowbank Mine, 38% to 40% are local Inuit from the Kivalliq region. That would be almost 300 employees.
5:15 p.m.
Liberal
Ted Hsu Liberal Kingston and the Islands, ON
How would that break down between skilled and unskilled, if it's possible to draw a line somewhere?
5:15 p.m.
President and Chief Operating Officer, Agnico-Eagle Mines Limited
I would say the majority are entry level, but that is changing. The majority of our equipment operators are now Inuit. We have now been able to train our first Inuit supervisor in the mine, so there is a change. We now have four Inuit mechanic apprentices. But on the hydraulics and diesel, for those types of skills, it is going to be difficult and it will take some time.
5:15 p.m.
Liberal
Ted Hsu Liberal Kingston and the Islands, ON
Do we keep statistics across the north, a global aggregate?
5:15 p.m.
Executive Director, NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines
Certainly, the NWT government keeps statistics for the Northwest Territories. The government has required all the mines to sign socio-economic agreements. Under those agreements they report on a regular basis, sometimes twice a year but certainly once a year, and then they aggregate those. Right now in the NWT there are about 2,700 workers in the diamond mines; about 55% are northern, and about half of that are aboriginal.