Ecojustice most recently represented World Wildlife Fund Canada in the National Energy Board's Arctic offshore review, which took place in the shadow of the BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Our primary engagement at this point in the north at Ecojustice is on the issue of offshore drilling, and our position and WWF's position in this issue was not one of “No to drilling; it never can be done”, anti-offshore. It wasn't that at all, and it is worth clarifying that because, as I said, all too often the perspective is that environmental groups are opposed and they must be crushed.
It's our opinion that there can be responsible development in the north, and that there can be sustainable development in the north. Of course, those two words remain to be defined and they are politically charged. But when it comes to offshore development in the north, particularly in the Beaufort but also as we're now seeing proposals for seismic testing in the Davis Strait, we're anticipating significant activity there over the next five or ten years. There are some significant regulatory issues that must be addressed at a federal level before any kind of responsible or sustainable development can move forward.
Again, this is not an anti-offshore perspective. This is one that is focused on the social licence to operate. It's focused on ensuring that northern communities that rely on the environment to feed themselves and maintain their cultures can be sustainable as well.
I want to pick up on Ms. Kuzenko's theme of the timeliness of the length and complexity of the regulatory process. I have one very simple suggestion today, which would make a big difference with regard to the quality of the regulatory regime and of the certainty that industry would have going forward as well as the timeliness of their and government decisions. Right now, when the Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development makes a decision to issue a licence for offshore exploration in the Arctic, there is no environmental assessment process.
In the U.S. there is, and in Norway there is. There's a legal requirement for environmental assessment in those countries. In Canada the environmental assessment process has kicked in once the actual exploration activities are beginning. I would suggest that the uncertainty that this generates for industry and particularly for communities is significant.
At the stage of the issuance of licences there needs to be a full strategic environmental assessment of whether offshore drilling should go ahead in a particular area, well before significant investments are made to prepare for exploration activities. This way capital wouldn't be paralyzed and decisions by those communities up north could be made at a much earlier phase ,so that they could determine that over here is not an area where they want to be drilling, and over there, potentially, yes.
It's that one crucial question of when you are going to do an environmental assessment. Right now, they don't do it up front; they do it well down the line. The ultimate result is going to be that poor decisions are going to be made because they will already have determined that in areas X, Y, and Z they can drill. I would simply suggest that's a massive issue, particularly in the context of devolution. I'd be happy to talk to the theme of devolution between the Government of the Northwest Territories and the federal government with regard to offshore governance. That's another big issue. The environmental assessment feeds into that as well.
I'll conclude by saying that if there are any issues that interest people with regard to offshore liability and the reform of that regime in the post-BP spill world, we'd be quite happy to speak to that issue as well.
Thank you very much for your time. I very much appreciate the opportunity.