Northern Parks

The development of Northern National Parks has long been one of my concerns.  The Nahanni park is of particular personal interest as my family has a history with the area that long predates the creation of the park.  The park is in an area where my ancestors lived. My grandfather, who was a hunter and trapper, had a cabin – which is still standing – in the Nahanni on the Flat River. His cabin is just below Virginia Falls, a very beautiful falls that people come to see.

There is a spot on the Nahanni River called George's Riffle. That is named after my grandfather. He was coming down in the spring after being on a mountain all winter and he had a spill, so it is named after him.  There is another area called Lafferty's Riffle that also is named after one of my relatives. A lake in the area is named after my father. One of my uncles, Fred Sibbeston, guided the boat when Prime Minister Trudeau first came down the Nahanni River. My uncle Ted was Trudeau's interpreter when he arrived at Nahanni Butte and met with the people. He sat cross-legged in the grass meeting with the people, and, Ted, my uncle was the translator.  I am, therefore, historically, culturally and emotionally connected and attached to this part of the North.

I’ve generally been supportive of the creation and expansion of Northern parks but only under conditions that support aboriginal people and northern communities.  Aboriginal people must be able to continue their traditional way of hunting and trapping, unaffected by park boundaries and rules.  Local communities must also benefit economically from the operation of parks through jobs and business opportunities.  Equally important, the creation of parks must be balanced with the reasonable use of land and resources for other purposes, including mining, forestry and oil and gas production.  The principles of sustainable development must also apply to the creation of parks – they must contribute to a sustainable economy which is capable of supporting the aspirations of northerners, including the financing of self-government.

In September 2001, a sub-committee of the Senate Aboriginal Peoples Committee, of which I was a part, submitted a report, entitled Northern Parks – A New Way.  We had traveled to the North – Whatehorse, Inuvik and Iqaluit – to hear from local people and, as a result, made recommendations to the government on how parks in the North needed to be managed in a distinctly northern way in order to create the maximum benefits for local people and to reflect Northern realities.  Some of these recommendations have been incorporated into Parks Canada operations while others still need more action.  I intend to pursue these recommendations with the government during the coming parliamentary session.

Last fall, Senator Di Nino from Toronto proposed a motion in the Senate to call on the government to move quickly on the expansion of Nahanni National Park to seven times its current size.  He was prompted to do so by the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) and supported by the Deh Cho First Nations.  While I’m generally supportive of the expansion of Nahanni, I’m concerned that it be done in a rational and systematic manner. 

Once a park is formed, it is very difficult to change its boundary – some would say nearly impossible.  The land is preserved and protected for all time and no development can occur no matter what happens or is discovered afterward.  Aboriginal people in the North don’t view parks the same way as people in the south.   They don’t want them to be untouchable wildernesses that no-one can benefit from.  While they want to ensure the environment is preserved, they also see parks as working places where aboriginal people can continue to live their traditional lives and where they can build an economy and future for themselves and their children.  

For example, the creation of the Tuktut Nogait National Park in 1996 required the Inuvialuit to give up economic development opportunities for oil and minerals forever.  After boundaries of the park were established a company exploring the area found that there was good mineralized property in the area and wanted to establish a mine. There was an attempt, after the boundaries were more or less drawn on the paper, to reduce the size of the park, to exclude the mineralized area.  

The people of Paulatuk supported the decrease, arguing that it would create 75 jobs. The Inuvialuit, who were in negotiations with the federal government in that area, the Government of the Northwest Territories, and even the senator for the area, argued very hard to have the park decreased so that exploration and development could occur in that area, but the federal government said that it would not open up the boundary issue, and so the request was denied.

Even the original agreement by the Inuvialuit to form a park was done in expectation that other economic activities related to tourism would then be available to them.  Later they found that the restrictive policies of Parks Canada were really inhibiting them and preventing them from pursuing their rights that had been guaranteed by their land claim.  Parks Canada eventually provided a million dollars to build a community centre in Paulatuk.  This centre houses Parks offices, a store and hotel and now a visitors centre.  But it took a lot of effort and fighting to get this deal which was really meant to compensate local people for lost economic activities.  Although this happened it is not clear that Parks Canada has really changed its approach or policy and that local economic development is at all important to them or that similar investments in infrastructure will occur to benefit local communities.  I think we need some assurance that this is the case before proceeding with this huge expansion of the Nahanni Park.

It is essential to good decision making to have all the facts in front of you.  Therefore there is a need for a complete assessment of mineral and energy resources in the proposed park expansion area. The Mineral and Energy Resource Assessment process, called MERA, was established in 1980 as a prerequisite to establish parks in the Northwest Territories and the Yukon. I am proposing that this be done. Studies have been done to cover certain parts of the park in the expansion, but a complete one was not done. Hence, before the park expansion is done, I believe a complete mineral assessment of the area must be done, just so that we all know. It is already noted that there are minerals in those lands, but it is important to have a complete assessment of minerals.

Present and future generations will be bound. Young people are being educated and trained in our schools and colleges in the North for employment opportunities. Trapping is becoming less and less a way of life. It is still important, but every year it does seem that as people get old there are fewer people trapping, so obviously the wage economy is important and will be more important for the people of the North.  Some industry and development will be necessary in the future for young people to be meaningfully engaged. Just like people in the South, people in the North enjoy driving new Ford trucks, enjoy using computers, enjoy all the amenities of life. Obviously, if the standard of living is to be maintained, they will need to have employment opportunities.  The Deh Cho process that is currently underway in the North has in its plans to eventually set up their own self-government, and there will be need for money, royalties and taxes to operate and provide services.  Without significant economic development these funds simply won’t exist.

For all these reasons, I proposed an amendment to Senator Di Nino’s motion that would require a response by the government on how parks in the North will be administered as well as a complete resource assessment before any final decision is made on park expansion.  It may well be that when all the facts are in, the people of the Deh Cho and the government of Canada will agree that a huge park be created in the Nahanni but we owe it to future generations to make that decision with full knowledge of the consequences with which they will have to live.

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