Q&A: Rebecca Alty on major projects, Indigenous advice and the North

No Mackenzie Valley Highway on Mark Carney’s list of the first big projects to get advanced. No NWT faces in a key Indigenous advisory group.

Five major infrastructure projects have been selected for fast-tracking by Canada. Huge, multi-billion-dollar initiatives championed by the GNWT didn’t make the cut.

However, the Arctic Security Corridor – which is largely Nunavut-based but involves a road connecting to Yellowknife – did make a second-tier list of six projects that could be given the green light after “further development.”

And while nobody from the NWT is on the newly unveiled Indigenous Advisory Council that will guide Ottawa’s new Major Projects Office, the territory’s MP characterized this week’s announcements as “a good start with hopefully more news for the Northwest Territories to come.”

Rebecca Alty said the Arctic Security Corridor would be “really beneficial” for both the NWT and Nunavut, and said the Mackenzie Valley Highway is “still a really important project” even though it didn’t warrant a mention from the prime minister.

The GNWT appears to be on board with that assessment. On Thursday, Premier RJ Simpson hailed Carney’s opening list of projects as “the true start of a new federal approach.”

But some Sahtu residents weren’t so sure.

Leaders in the economically troubled region, which relies on the drought-hit Mackenzie River for much of its transportation, have pinned their hopes on the building of a year-round highway connecting to the Dehcho and the rest of Canada.

The Mackenzie Valley Highway’s absence led one resident to suggest the Carney list “could spell disaster” for the region if northern businesses now focus on the Arctic Security Corridor instead.

“Even though it’s not listed in this news release, there’s still a lot of discussions at the federal and territorial level on it,” said Alty, who is also Canada’s Crown-Indigenous relations minister.

“The Northwest Territories has raised it as a project of importance. Some of the projects just need a bit more of those reviews before they get to the next stage. So I wouldn’t say that if you don’t see it here, it’s dead in the water. There are a lot more projects still being refined.”

In an interview hours after Carney’s first list of selected major projects came out, we asked Alty about the lack of NWT representation on the Indigenous Advisory Council, what selection to “tier two” of the list means for the Arctic Security Corridor, and how she is advocating for the territory’s interests while sitting at the heart of cabinet decision-making.

Below, read a transcript.

This interview was recorded on September 11, 2025. The transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.

Ollie Williams: You’re a minister central to a lot of this, and you’re the NWT’s MP. I’m sure the minister is excited to be announcing this. The NWT MP might look at the list and say, “Huh, there’s an absence of some key NWT projects from this list.” How do you feel about this announcement?

Rebecca Alty: I’m excited as the minister, as well as the MP – particularly the Arctic Economic and Security Corridor. The Grays Bay project is really beneficial for Nunavut and the Northwest Territories. But these aren’t the end of the projects. This is the start.

One of the projects I’m sure folks are wondering about is the Mackenzie Valley Highway and that is still an opportunity. The Northwest Territories has raised it as a project of importance. Some of the projects just need a bit more of those reviews before they get to the next stage. So I wouldn’t say that if you don’t see it here, it’s dead in the water. There are a lot more projects still being refined.

It feels to me as though there is already, in the prime minister’s announcement, a tier for “needs a bit more work,” and there were six projects on it. The Arctic Security Corridor was one of them. The Mackenzie Valley Highway wasn’t on that. The Taltson hydro expansion wasn’t on that. We’re already hearing from residents of the Sahtu – one person says this might “spell disaster for communities along the proposed Mackenzie highway” because businesses might migrate to the Grays Bay project for work over the next little while. You can understand, can’t you, why some people in the Sahtu might greet the announcement today with more reservation than you?

For sure. Everybody wants to see their project on [the list], whether it’s in the Northwest Territories or across Canada. Again, all the projects are still going through the process. [I’m] really working hard to continue to advocate for and advance projects in the Northwest Territories. Grays Bay, I think, is a good start with hopefully more news for the Northwest Territories to come.

Let’s look at Grays Bay. This is the Arctic Security Corridor – at least, that’s what the NWT government called it today. Mark Carney’s announcement calls it the Arctic Economic and Security Corridor. Before, we called it the Slave Geological Province Corridor. Its name seems to change according to whatever we think the prime minister might go for. What does it actually mean, in practice, when the press release says it needs “further development”?

I would say the difference between tier one and tier two, if you will? [Tier one projects] are quite a bit further advanced. The Arctic Economic and Security Corridor still needs a bit more work when it comes to consultation, engagement, permitting, some of that “pre” work. But it’s getting closer and closer to the finish line to advance.

In a press release issued on Thursday, West Kitikmeot Resources Corp – the company behind the Grays Bay Road and Port Project, which forms the bulk of the Arctic Security Corridor proposal – said it “agrees with the PM’s assessment that further development of the Grays Bay Road and Port Project, within the broader Arctic Economic and Security Corridor, will be required.”

Does the fact that the Arctic Security Corridor is on this broader list of six second-tier projects mean essentially that it’s going to happen, sooner or later?

It’s a positive sign. Not only is it on this list, but it was in our party platform, and so it’s high in the prime minister’s vision and runway for the development. I think it’s the most positive news I’ve seen, that it’s being considered in this tier two for further work.

The Mackenzie Valley Highway is also still a really important project and, even though it’s not listed in this news release, there’s still a lot of discussions at the federal and territorial level on it.

Do you think the Mackenzie Valley Highway is going to get a green light during the life of your government?

Fingers crossed. But, you know, I never like to count my chickens before they hatch.

What happens now for the top five, the ones that are being advanced to the Major Projects Office?

The next step is consultation with Indigenous rights holders, and so to get these projects officially added to the legislation. Then there’s the consultation on the conditions for the permitting. And then, once that’s approved, it’s shovels in the ground, work’s under way. Two years to get all this completed so that projects advance.

Speaking of consultation, this is probably a good time to bring up the Indigenous Advisory Council that was announced. What do you hope that achieves in the broader sphere of consultation and the promises you have made that this will all happen with full First Nations, Métis, Inuit consultation. Where does that Indigenous Advisory Council sit?

Yeah, it’s a great question, because it’s really important. The Indigenous Advisory Council is providing policy recommendations to the Major Projects Office, so recommendations on regulation, on consultation, policy recommendations in that regard.

The consultation itself has to happen directly between the Crown and the rights holders. Instead of the Major Projects Office only relying on government advice, the Indigenous Advisory Council has these expert third-party advisors to provide recommendations as well.

There are 11 people on the Indigenous Advisory Council. There are three northern voices on that council, and a Northwest Territories-based one is not among them. What does that mean in practice for NWT-based Indigenous governments, that there isn’t a member of the advisory council representing their interests?

We didn’t go with one rep per province or territory. We really looked more at the broad geographic [range] as well as making sure there was First Nations, Inuit, Métis as well as modern treaty holders, and really looking for that experience in both the elected officials perspective as well as the business community perspective – and that folks have worked across worked across governments, industry, with the public, across nations.

They’re not there representing their nation, they’re there to provide those broad recommendations on First Nations, Inuit and Metis rights,

Who picked the members of the advisory council? Were they handpicked by the federal government?

It was ultimately the prime minister. We received recommendations and names throughout the summer. It’s a hard problem to have but we had more interest, more great candidates than we had positions for. We want to make sure it’s agile enough to be able to actually provide recommendations in a timely way. It was ultimately up at the prime minister’s level.

Do you think the prime minister picked people who are going to give him a hard time?

The first question in the media scrum yesterday was, you know, “One of the members seems very critical of this.” It was about getting those diverse views to make sure we are getting robust recommendations to the government, so the Building Canada projects have that high likelihood of success.

Getting tied up in the courts because of X, Y and Z consultation not being done right means it actually slows those projects down.

So what is the route for Indigenous governments in the NWT to directly communicate their views on major projects. Are they sending you text messages? If they’re not on the advisory council, how do they advise?

Great question. That’s where the Indigenous Advisory Council is one way that the Major Projects Office is engaging, but there are regional engagement sessions happening throughout the fall, early winter, and so folks do get that direct avenue with the Major Projects Office.

If Indigenous proponents have projects, they can reach out directly to the Major Projects Office to work on them. And then again, the Major Projects Office is the one doing the consultation with rights holders once projects come.

You’re the minister. You’re the MP as well. That’s a conflict lots of people experience when they are ministers. They have to try to reflect their constituency’s interests while reflecting the government’s interests at the same time. How are you advocating for the Mackenzie Valley Highway, the Taltson hydro expansion, while being quoted in the press releases of the government making the decisions?

Having me right at the cabinet table to be able to explain these projects to my cabinet colleagues, to the prime minister, I think is incredibly important. My travels through the Sahtu and getting to talk with leadership and residents, and bringing those stories to cabinet, bringing the data – MLA Danny McNeely is a strong advocate, I get daily texts from him with further background and information to really help advance those projects – but there’s the cabinet confidence, so really working on it hard at the cabinet table and results to hopefully come.

Right, because you’re doing that advocacy work, but they’re not on the list. So what do you think needs to change?

This is still the start. This is the phase one and two, and so continuing to work with the territorial government as well as Indigenous governments to continue to advance those other projects.