Natural Resources committee  The barriers are falling. I think that in the next decade or two decades we're really going to see things change. The aboriginal people of the Northwest Territories are going to start becoming a serious economic force. It took time. Lack of ownership of the land is a serious im

Natural Resources committee  If that's a five-year process and a fifteen-year life of a resource, for instance—that's fairly common—then the investment's not looking so good anymore, is it? You're going to have a third of your transportation paid for already before your infrastructure comes on.

Natural Resources committee  I have no idea of the background on that. But it came out of the regulations that go with the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act.

Natural Resources committee  That's a federal act.

Natural Resources committee  I observe these things. I don't really wonder where they come from. I do have opinions, though. I mean, 400 man-days is a four-person tent over a 100-day summer season. So if you want something bigger than that, you need to get a class B land-use permit. You're not talking about

Natural Resources committee  They've been at this now for about 12 years; maybe the longest is the Gwitchin. I don't know exactly. They may have enough experience in granting land-use licences that they would be willing to work with the federal government to set higher thresholds. We need something everybody

Natural Resources committee  We're really just getting started with the north, exploring it and developing it. As technologies like the Discovery Air airship come on.... Technologies are being developed in the northern Alberta oil field for roads that rely on a certain amount of buoyancy, with geo-textiles

Natural Resources committee  Yes. It just takes more money up there.

Natural Resources committee  It just takes more money, and it's such an enormous area of land with such fantastic resources that the little explorers have to be given the freedom and latitude to go and have a look to find out what's there. Then it has to be reasonably expensive to investigate the promising f

Natural Resources committee  I typically don't deal directly with the licensing functions. I just haven't observed them.

Natural Resources committee  There absolutely is. I see it on the ground with things that we're required to do—even objects that I'm required to move—that aren't essential to the operation but are required. For instance, with a class B licence, you're only allowed to have 4,000 litres of fuel in one location

Natural Resources committee  People are innovative. They do things to work within the regulations they have to follow.

Natural Resources committee  I believe I am the only one. I'm the chief pilot.

Natural Resources committee  I'm talking with a young man from Cambridge Bay, a 100-hour pilot. You have to appreciate that a helicopter pilot is a long way up the skills ladder, so you really have to be careful who you send out with your million-dollar machine and your best customer. It doesn't necessarily

Natural Resources committee  The whole of Nunavut was settled in one claim in 1999. In the Northwest Territories there are seven claim areas. Four have been settled and three are outstanding. The three that are outstanding are probably about half of the Northwest Territories.