Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It's basically a matter of interpretation of the land use agreement. A lot of goodwill has gone into the creation of this act. A lot of goodwill has gone into everybody working together, and it'll be difficult if misunderstandings or different interpretations of particular clauses or activities hinder that.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I don't think it would jeopardize projects in the large sense, in terms of a project being cancelled or whatever, but it might create argument, if you like, within some of these processes, for example, the NIRB process or the land use planning process, or whatever. A lot of extra time could be spent arguing about a particular method or way of doing things, or whatever, when maybe that's time that could have been saved if they were dealt with in the beginning, if you know what I mean.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Both agencies that are the subject of this legislation do have a role in assessing cumulative impacts. The planning commission, which is kind of a “before the fact” discussion, if you like, on what might be acceptable, what might not be acceptable, how many.... There are provisions in that to kind of monitor development or activity as time goes on, and then possibly change the land use plan, or even having provisions within the land use plan, to be able to deal with that.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  There's no formal law, that I'm aware of anyway, that deals with cumulative impacts, but there's a process that deals with cumulative impacts.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  There has been lots of discussion in terms of cumulative impacts. I guess we feel our impact review process is on par with or better than the Canadian environmental assessment process. We had an amendment to our land claim that actually recognizes that the Nunavut Impact Review Board and their process would replace the CEAA process.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  There are always possibilities for more consultation. I remember some of the consultations were whirlwind trips through the north, going to communities and talking about it, and there was a lot of discussion, as you said, with various subject-matter experts at the discussion table when the bill was being drafted.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes, the process certainly was good. It was good that all the major players, the signatories, actually, to the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement were part of the creation of this and the building of this. That's almost a fundamental tenet of the land claim agreement and Inuit culture, where consensus and working together are very important.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  One of the most important things in these processes—and they are public processes, so maybe they are a little bit different from what happens in Alberta, where I think intervener funding...and I think there are other Canadian laws too, for example, CEAA, and I believe the laws that govern the National Energy Board and maybe the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission do have provisions for intervener funding.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It was a long process developing this bill, from what I understand, and I saw part of it. A lot of collaboration and consensus were required in order to do it, and there was a lot of compromise on the part of a lot of different agencies to come up with what you see before you today.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes. As you can imagine, considering where we live and considering the weather up there and the timeframes when you can actually do work, timing is very important. A delay that brings you past, for example, a decision point where you might have to book....

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Then you've lost a lot of time, and in a lot of these projects, time is money. It could even be more severe than that. It might actually mean the difference between—

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  This act is a direct result of obligations within the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement. I think it's the last piece of the puzzle in terms of legislation that has to be created because of the land claims agreement. It is a public process. Both of them are actually public processes—the Nunavut land use plan and these environmental assessments.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'll just add to that. The review board actually has, by statute, certain decisions it has to make, or certain recommendations it has to make, I should say, so that a project can proceed. More information might be required from the proponent; that's another option. The third option is that a project should not proceed.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  But those are recommendations.