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The Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board is launching a new online database that it says aims to deliver “timely, coordinated and evidence-based decisions on major projects” in the NWT portion of the Slave Geological Province.
The review board announced the Regional Database and Major Project Review Tool in a news release last week.
It said the platform will bring together publicly available environmental, socio-economic, mapping, monitoring and project information in one place to support long-term readiness for increased resource development and cumulative effects management in the North.
“Ultimately, better information today will help support stronger, more coordinated and informed decisions for tomorrow,” the release states.
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JoAnne, Deneron, chair of the review board, said the initiative will help Indigenous governments, communities, regulators and resource companies “navigate complex project reviews while maintaining the integrity and transparency of northern environmental assessment and regulatory processes.”
“Interest in major infrastructure, energy transportation and resource development projects across the North continues to grow,” she was quoted as saying.
“These tools will support more informed and co-ordinated decision-making by improving access to regional information, strengthening understanding of cumulative effects and project context.”
The Slave Geological Province is an area rich in mineral deposits covering approximately 190,000 square kilometres in the eastern NWT and northwestern Nunavut.
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The Arctic Economic and Security Corridor – previously known as the Slave Geological Province Corridor – is a proposed all-season road through the NWT portion of the Slave Geological Province to the Nunavut border. Combined with the proposed Grays Bay port and road project, it aims to connect the area to a deepwater port on the Coronation Gulf and Canada’s existing highway network to the south.
Both projects have been referred to the federal Major Projects Office.
The Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board’s new database and review tool received federal funding and support from the NWT government.
Minister of Northern and Arctic Affairs Rebecca Chartrand said investment in tools like the database will “make sure communities have the information, capacity and support they need to help shape major project decisions in ways that reflect their priorities and rights.”
Territorial ministers said the new tool is a “big step in the right direction” for supporting major projects in the North and that development and environmental protection “must go hand in hand.”
“This work is not about lowering standards,” stated Caitlin Cleveland, the NWT’s industry minister.
“It is about working together to make our regulatory system clearer, more predictable and more efficient while maintaining the strong environmental protections and public confidence that responsible development requires.”
