Environment committee  I think it requires a reversal of the onus. If a community wants to protect the lands that have supported them, we should get out of their way, and frankly, everything has been in their way, so that is a new approach to be taken. You can award a significant discovery licence in

Environment committee  The best starting point is the most concrete thing that's right in front of us, and communities have been asking for that protection in that area ever since there was oil and gas exploration in the 1970s, which really was very traumatizing to some people in the way it was conduct

Environment committee  I think the most important thing is to do this transparently. What are the economic benefits? What is the baseline management that can be handed over to communities? Have that up front right away and across the board, being fair and not renegotiating from one space to the next, f

Environment committee  The four Inuit land claims were settled over 30 years or so. There's quite a bit of different content in the rights secured in the first ones versus in the latest ones, and I think it's important to kind of ratchet up to the best available that we have. In this case, the Nunatsia

Environment committee  I think there's an issue of the relationship and Ottawa not always knowing best. The best managers of these areas are going to be the ones who know it the best, and they're up north, so it's flipping the relationship that is really important.

Environment committee  There are some obvious jobs that come with a protected area. There are the wardens, the guardians, or whatever you want to call them, and that kind of employment. There's the research, and then there's community-based monitoring. These are best monitored. There are all the associ

Environment committee  Again, we have to be very cognizant that it's with the Inuit that Inuit impact and benefit agreements will be negotiated. We'd really be in awkward position to say, “This is how much you should be allocating to that.” However, I will say that the perspective needs to be long term

Environment committee  The experience I have from working in the north and from talking with communities and individuals is that they want to protect their heritage as marine people who have hunted these waters, whether on ice or on water. I can't speak for them, but I can repeat what I've heard, which

Environment committee  I'd go a little further. Under the Nunavut land claim, for instance, it should be representative of the population, and that is the requirement. Since 85% of the population is Inuit, why aim for 50% when you should be representative?

Environment committee  I've worked internationally—

Environment committee  The bottom line is yes. I would flip it even further, though: I think there's a role for Inuit to manage these areas for Canada, rather than having Canada manage them.

Environment committee  I can answer quickly. Because of all the risk being borne by the Inuit, I think it would be a fairly quick discussion. I give the example of the community of Clyde River, which is going to be in the Supreme Court of Canada contesting the seismic program that they believe was go

Environment committee  No. I would disagree with that.

Environment committee  The Inuit do not hold rights to the subsea; therefore, the benefits they would receive from that are certainly not clear. They are currently wrapped up in what would be—at this point, under legislation—secret negotiations held by the Government of Canada with the company for bene

Environment committee  Yes. Our view is that the whole of the regulatory regime for oil and gas in the Arctic needs to be reviewed. It is dated. It dates back to the late 1970s, when there was only one value put forward, and that was to encourage exploration. In the interim, we know that other values