Indigenous, NWT leaders celebrate ‘historic’ highway announcement

Some Indigenous and territorial leaders said they were at a loss for words as they celebrated federal support of the proposed Mackenzie Valley Highway.

“This is a big day for us in the Sahtu,” said Charles McNeely, chair of the Sahtu Secretariat, during remarks at the Legislative Assembly on Thursday evening.

“This is a great opportunity for everyone all the way down the valley.”

McNeely said the highway will help address the high cost of living and support struggling contractors in the region, as well as make it easier for people to travel.

“Now our doors are opening and that’s what we wanted to see for the longest time,” he said.

“Our youth, they need a vision. This is a vision now for them.”

Prime Minister Mark Carney said earlier on Thursday that his government was referring the proposed highway project to the federal Major Projects Office as part of a broader Arctic defence and infrastructure spending announcement.

Construction on the highway, which is currently undergoing environmental assessment, could start as soon as the summer, Carney said.

“The new highway will be resilient, both to the changing seasons and the changing climate, providing year-round access to isolated communities, allowing critical supplies and medicines to reach people in remote areas,” the prime minister said, adding that the highway will connect Yellowknife to Inuvik once complete.

The Mackenzie Valley Highway has been proposed as a project for decades, without ever attracting the funding required to build the entire road. In 2014, the project was split into phases with an initial focus on a 300-km stretch from Wrigley to Norman Wells. Building all the way to the Dempster Highway and Inuvik could mean a total distance of 800 km or more, the GNWT has previously stated.

Carney said the work will “unlock immense potential for mining from copper to zinc to critical minerals, and we will build this highway in partnership with territorial and Indigenous governments so that the benefits promised nearly 70 years ago are felt in the communities directly.”

Pehdzeh Ki First Nation Chief Jamie Moses said the project has to involve everyone working together.

He said Indigenous governments have a better voice with the territorial government than ever before.

“It feels good knowing that our rights and our title is protected and we have a say in how this is going to be designed and how we’re going to go forward there,” he said of the highway,

During an interview with Cabin Radio, Moses added his First Nation is looking forward to opportunities the highway will bring and wants to leverage the project to improve services in Wrigley.

“We know we’re the gateway nation to this project and we don’t have any nurses, we don’t have RCMP. We’re lacking in services and capacity,” he said.

“So definitely we want to use this to build capacity and have more opportunities for our members – and not only just our members, our neighbours, too.”

The chief said ways to mitigate potential negative social impacts from the highway, such as drug trafficking, will also be considered.

Elder’s message: ‘We’ll see’

Carney said the first phase of the highway will stretch from Wrigley to Norman Wells while a second phase will extend the highway to Inuvik.

The Sahtu Secretariat, Pehdzéh Kı̨ First Nation and Gwich’in Tribal Council said they are working on a joint memorandum of understanding in support of advancing the Mackenzie Valley Highway.

In a video message, Gwich’in Grand Chief Frederick Blake Jr said that “shows how Indigenous governments, by working together and asserting our constitutionally protected rights, can both support Canada’s national defence goals and also achieve positive community, economic and social development outcomes for our nations.”

In a statement posted online, Norman Wells Mayor Frank Pope said Carney’s announcement about the highway is “an example of the power of a solid advocacy effort.”

“We are stronger for having positively worked together for our community and the Sahtu,” he said.

Danny Gaudet, Ɂek’wahtı̨dǝ́ or leader of the Délı̨nę Got’ı̨nę Government, said Thursday was “a historic day” but he remained cautious, quoting the words of an Elder.

“After you explained that you’re going to do something, he’d shake his finger at the government and say, ‘we’ll see,'” Gaudet said.

He said while Imperial Oil’s decision to end operations in Norman Wells “looked pretty gloomy” for the Sahtu, “there’s still other opportunities to come.”

He called for a shift from northern dependency to independence and said a lot of work is needed to ensure spending stays in the North through capacity building, training and education.

“We have to strengthen our people,” he said.

During his announcement in Yellowknife, Carney spoke about the importance of consultation and partnerships with territorial and Indigenous governments when investing in the North.

He said previous federal investments “lacked the scale of ambition and the depth of strategy worthy of this vast region and its people.”

Other projects get advanced

Alongside the Mackenzie Valley Highway, Carney said his government was also referring the proposed Taltson hydro expansion and Arctic Economic and Security Corridor to the Major Projects Office. The office’s purpose is to fast-track projects deemed to be in the national interest.

The combined Grays Bay Road and Port project and Slave Geological Province Corridor were rebranded as the Arctic Economic and Security Corridor early last year.

On Thursday, however, Carney applied the title solely to the proposed 400 km all-season road from Yellowknife to the Nunavut border, once again separating the NWT side of the bigger proposal from the Nunavut side, which has also been referred to the Major Projects Office.

“The speech that we heard the prime minister make is essentially the speech I’ve been making for the past couple of years, and especially this last year,” said NWT Premier RJ Simpson, who was all smiles on Thursday.

“The difference is, I was saying we should do this and he was saying we are going to do this.”

He cautioned, however, that the prime minister’s announcement does not mean the territory’s work is done or guarantee the projects will be completed.

“We have to put in the effort to make sure that they happen,” he said.

“We need to ensure that we’re taking advantage of this opportunity, that the people of the territory are benefiting and we’re building long-term capacity.”

Sahtu MLA Danny McNeely said the territory now needs to develop a readiness plan to “capture and maximize” the benefits of the three major projects.

“Now, you should actually be very proud to be a resident of the Northwest Territories,” he said.

“It’s an opportune time to really open up the potential of this territory.”

`Northern leaders have long lobbied the federal government to support the three projects.

While Carney gave little indication as to what pushed his government to now decide to fast-track those projects, Simpson attributed progress to better collaboration alongside external factors outside the territory’s control.

“We needed a rupture in our relationship with the United States. We needed a change in the geopolitical order of the world. We needed a prime minister from the Northwest Territories but we also needed to work together in the territories,” he said. (Carney was born in Fort Smith.)

Simpson said his government has made strides in improving relations with Indigenous people through the trust and cooperation of Indigenous leaders.

“These projects are an example for Canada on how you work with Indigenous people and how you advance major nation-building projects,” the premier said.

“You have to do it with free, prior and informed consent, and that’s what we’re doing here in the true sense of the term.”