Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my statement today concerns consultation between resource development companies and communities and a role that this government plays in ensuring that traditional harvesters are adequately compensated for lost income.
Mr. Speaker, on December 3, 2001, the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board issued a report on the Cameron Hills gathering system of pipeline development as proposed by Paramount Resources Limited. Several of the conclusions of the report were directly linked in some way to the role of the GNWT. In addition to the environmental issues, the board also made comment upon several socio-economic matters, such as the development of a benefit plan and the usage of traditional knowledge in the project.
Item number 13 in the measures recommended by the review board recommends:
INAC ensures that Paramount discusses its proposed compensation plan for the affected communities and the GNWT. Paramount should widen the scope of the proposed benefits plan to ensure that reasonable and credible land and resource impacts caused by the development and identified by communities are eligible for compensation.
However, in the main body of its report, the review board noted that the GNWT does not have any resource harvesting compensation policy.
The review board pointed out that in the absence of any policy, regulation or requirement for compensation framework by either the territorial or federal government, the developer has no legal obligation to enter into such negotiations.
Mr. Speaker, the statement of principles upon which INAC bases its approval for benefits plans for first applicable territorial policies in respect of compensation. INAC obviously assumed that there would be some in place when they drafted their benefit plan criteria. Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, there is no such territorial government policy in place.
The review board is actually recommending that INAC remove this reference to territorial policies until such time as this government decides that there should be some.
Mr. Speaker, I find this to be a significant and disturbing gap in the GNWT regulations. This government must ensure that harvesting rights and traditional land users are treated fairly. What type of message is this lack of policy...