N.W.T. gov't. seeks public feedback on environmental framework

The government of the Northwest Territories is planning to become the second jurisdiction in Canada — after Ontario — to apply a Statement of Environmental Values into government decision-making. 

The statement, required under the amended Environmental Rights Act of 2019, will mean that all decisions that might have a significant impact on the environment will be evaluated against a series of seven principles.

They include preventing harm to the environment, fixing it at your own cost if you have harmed it, protecting ecosystems and biological diversity, and ensuring a safe environment for future generations.

The three other principles include having everyone in the territory sharing equally in the benefits and burdens, ensuring development doesn't happen if it doesn't meet the needs of future generations as well as present ones, and recognizing the relationship between Indigenous peoples' rights and the territorial government's commitment to implementing the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Thompson said the "all-encompassing" values statement will help the government balance environmental interests with developing industry in the N.W.T. 

"We're not anti-development," he said. "We want to be able to develop … industry, but we need to do it right. We need to make sure we protect the environment as well. And we don't want to have development that happens that has an impact on future generations." 

Indigenous group optimistic but also concerned

Steven Nitah, senior advisor to the Indigenous Leadership Initiative, said an environmental framework like this one will be particularly important in the Northwest Territories because of the "globally significant carbon sinks and lands that are important for global weather patterns" here. 

And he said he is optimistic about what sort of a framework this statement could provide for the government going forward. 

"I think they're ticking off all the right boxes," he said. "The principles they incorporated are all recognized principles in both Canadian and international law and consistent with Indigenous worldviews, if not exactly [worded] the same way."

But Nitah also has concerns that the statement of values is non-binding and does not provide specific boundaries or roadblocks to stop government decisions that might end up damaging the environment.

The territorial government will be soliciting public feedback on the framework until Feb. 15 — and Nitah sees this as a chance for people to request more forceful measures. 

"We have the time and the space now to be proactive and use these statements to develop a land use or land relationship plan that gives life to these statements," he said. 

Gov't will follow through, says minister

Thompson said the government is "very sincere" about following through on the promises of this framework once it comes into effect. 

"If we weren't sincere about it, we wouldn't spend all the time and money that we need to do it right — and that includes the consultation process that we are doing now," he said. 

Thompson also encouraged people to give feedback on the framework, so the government can make changes before the final version comes into effect in 2022. 

"We, collectively, make good policies and good procedures and good acts," said Thompson. "It's very important for the residents of the Northwest Territories to provide their feedback, even if they're sceptical."