Hand over regulatory enforcement, Sahtu Secretariat tells GNWT

The Sahtu Secretariat says it’s time someone other than the NWT government enforced environmental regulations.

The chairs of four regulatory boards wrote to Premier RJ Simpson late last month to complain that the Mackenzie Valley Winter Road – operated by the GNWT – hasn’t had a water licence for a decade.

Water licences are key regulatory tools. Almost any large-scale project in the NWT requires one.

The boards used their letter to question why GNWT inspectors, who are in charge of enforcing the need for water licences, hadn’t taken meaningful action on the file.

In a separate letter sent last week, Sahtu Secretariat Inc (SSI) Chair Charles McNeely told the premier it was time to hand over enforcement powers to the local regulator.

“The monitoring and enforcement efforts of land and water licences in Sahtu are infrequent if not haphazard,” McNeely wrote. His letter was a direct response to the boards’ letter about the winter road into the Sahtu remaining unlicensed.

“This is a situation that is simply unacceptable to SSI and the residents of the region, particularly in anticipation of significant licence requirements to be expected for both the Mackenzie Valley Highway and the closure and reclamation of the Norman Wells oilfield,” McNeely continued.

“SSI suggests that there is a better way to deliver these functions – one which focuses on local program delivery and is consistent with current self-government objectives in the Sahtu.”

McNeely wants the GNWT to let the Sahtu Land and Water Board or SLWB, one of the four boards that wrote about the winter road, take over enforcement.

The board has the “expertise needed to monitor and the authority to enforce compliance with permits and licences by suspension or cancellation, when necessary,” he wrote.

“The SLWB is integrated into our communities, supports local training and human resource development and has a record of direct engagement with Sahtu communities on the concerns raised in this letter. If the resources were available and delegations of authority made, the SLWB could manage monitoring and enforcement for permits and licences in the Sahtu.

“The independence and co-management structure of this board could improve the outcomes of monitoring and enforcement programs.”

GNWT ‘acknowledges requirement’ for licence

The territorial government, responding to the concerns raised by the boards in their original letter, said it is working to acquire a new water licence for the winter road.

“Work on the revised application is nearly complete and [the Department of Infrastructure] plans to submit a revised application in mid-December 2025,” a spokesperson for Simpson’s cabinet told Cabin Radio by email on Thursday.

The territory said it “acknowledges the requirement for a water licence” but added the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board had made information requests in 2023 that the GNWT hadn’t anticipated, and which had slowed the process.

“The additional requirements requested have taken considerable time to complete, including reviewing existing studies for all 80 water sources to assess potential downstream impacts such as risks to fish refuge pools, evaluating climate change effects and water level impacts on wildlife, comparing available data with Traditional Knowledge regarding climate change impacts from the winter road, and securing formal land access authority,” the spokesperson wrote.

“Initially, GNWT required permissions for sources on private lands, which involved meeting with each land district – a process that took nine months. Some approvals were obtained in writing, while others led INF to remove sources outside the right-of-way on private lands.”

Despite suggesting it had been surprised by the regulatory requirements, the GNWT went on to insist it is “fully committed to upholding” the territory’s existing regulatory regime, which it noted is based in land claim and self-government agreements.

“The GNWT will keep the boards updated more frequently on the work and the progress made on the information collected, including into the licensing phase,” the spokesperson concluded.