I'll apologize in advance if I am going a little quickly, because I think I have more than 10 minutes in my presentation here.
Thank you for the opportunity to speak before you today. First of all, my name is Duane Smith. You can just stick to the English name. I know my Inuvialuit name is a bit difficult. With me today is my general counsel, Kate Darling.
I come from what is known as the Inuvialuit settlement region. It's located in the very far northwest portion of Canada. It's only nine hours by jet, but you're still in Canada, so please come and visit sometime.
The area includes the land, ice and waters of the Mackenzie Delta, the Beaufort Sea and, of course, the Arctic Ocean. The area I represent is just under one million square kilometres, the vast majority of that, of course, is ocean or the Beaufort Sea. We have six communities in our region, either in the delta or along the coast. There are roughly 6,000 Inuvialuit beneficiaries.
In 1984 we signed the Inuvialuit Final Agreement, the modern-day treaty. It's a land claim agreement pursued in response to increasing development activities in our land and waters. It's the first comprehensive land claim agreement settled north of the 60th parallel and the second settled in Canada's history. It's also the first modern-day treaty to create a national park in mutual agreement. It also created a territorial park out of this.
The IFA belongs to the Inuvialuit and to Canada. I keep reiterating that, because Canada is a signatory to it. It has its responsibilities and obligations in regard to the implementation of that treaty, as do we.
In regard to our area, we're very resource rich but infrastructure poor. We hold trillions of cubic feet of natural gas, both onshore and offshore. It's a clean source of energy relative to other non-renewable sources of energy.
Since the construction of the Dempster Highway, infrastructure development in the Arctic has not had a strategic plan. There is a lack of commercial access to the ocean, local energy production facilities, adequate telecommunications, etc. I'm sure you've heard a lot of these issues and points made in the past already.
Regarding the energy insecurity in my region, as an example, we truck most of our energy needs from thousands of kilometres away, either from British Columbia or Alberta, to fuel the energy in the communities. This doesn't make sense to us when we're sitting on nine trillion cubic feet of gas.
The Dempster Highway is subject to frequent road closures and longer freeze-ups. There are two major water bodies that we have to cross, which don't have bridges, so there again is a lack of infrastructure. We have to wait for these water bodies to freeze up in the fall so that we can make ice crossings, and/or for it to melt away for the ferries to operate in the spring and throughout the summer.
Another example is the nearest city, if you can call it that—Whitehorse, with 24,000 people—is over 1,200 kilometres away on this road, so we're trucking the stuff roughly 2,000 kilometres to our community to provide energy. You can imagine the greenhouse gas emissions from that. We are subject, as well, to high transportation surcharges, and there's a limited number of companies that can supply this energy.
The region has very limited disposable income among residents and inability to pay more. Residents give up nutritious food, home repairs and opportunities for their kids so that they can pay for heat and power. The energy costs in our region are probably the highest in Canada.
There is a real desire to develop local energy resources, but infrastructure, again, is needed.
In regard to the geopolitical considerations, states with emerging economies and growing populations want cleaner energy due, in part, to costs associated with local pollution as well as international targets.
These states are already approaching indigenous organizations in resource-rich areas with offers of infrastructure development and competitive investment arrangements enticing to populations that are chronically energy insecure.
Natural gas from Canada should be a key component in the global transition from coal and diesel, maximizing local resources while helping reach carbon emission reduction targets. Clear rights frameworks, mutually respectful relationships and tangible strategic plans for infrastructure development in remote areas are required to control access and maximize benefits to Canadians.
In relation to engaging with indigenous organizations, Inuvialuit have decades of experience negotiating with multinational oil and gas conglomerates interested in developing oil and gas in our region. Based on this experience, we've intervened in Clyde River to argue that free, prior and informed consent as outlined in article 32 2. of UNDRIP is the most certain means to achieve predictable energy investment and development in Canada. Early consultation with rights holders facilitates common understanding of impacts on rights under a land claim agreement and alignment of mutual interests, such as the need for energy security and reduction of emissions.
FPIC applies to project design, implementation and expected impacts. Going through the process of achieving FPIC can demonstrate efficiencies that can be gained by developing a resource using local capacity. We argued that withholding consent must be reasonable in the circumstances and is not a veto. Lots of lead time is needed to achieve FPIC but this should be considered an investment in a project's success. This approach aligns with the performance standards adopted by the International Finance Corporation agency of the World Bank and voluntarily by Canadian banks.
Canada needs to work with indigenous organizations to prepare the foundation. In our case, we need to evolve our land claim agreement to reflect the current environmental, legal and geopolitical landscape.
By the way, in our region we have our screening and review board processes that have been very successful, and as I said, it's going on 35 years since the signing of this agreement. The IFA, for example, was negotiated in the late 1970s, early 1980s, and did not contemplate the opening of the Arctic seaways.
Engage with indigenous organizations to plan infrastructure investments that will benefit both local residents and the Canadian economy over the next 20 years and to determine what makes them vulnerable to extraterritorial interests as well.
In conclusion, I just want to say thanks again for the opportunity and we'll entertain questions when we're done. Qujannamiik.