‘Before anything happens, take care of the smaller communities’

Indigenous leaders at a key NWT industrial gathering say their communities’ involvement in major projects needs to go beyond consultation, entry-level jobs and short-term contracts. 

The territory has spent the past year taking big steps toward construction of long-anticipated infrastructure projects like the Mackenzie Valley Highway, Arctic Corridor and Taltson hydro expansion.

At a two-day conference for businesses preparing to take on some of that work, representatives of smaller NWT communities said they don’t question whether that development should happen, but they do question who gets to shape it and what is left behind.

Eileen Marlowe, a manager of wildlife, lands and environment for the Łútsël K’é Dene First Nation, said the diamond mine era revealed the limits of simply counting Indigenous employment as Indigenous participation.

“The diamond mines tried to make effort to hire Indigenous people but, from what I’ve seen, it was mostly in camps, catering, like washing dishes, making beds and driving trucks,” Marlowe said.

“There’s very few actually Indigenous people in professional roles within an office space,” she added, pointing to positions in project management, communications, engagement, regulation and permitting.

“So I think we’re there – but we’re not fully there.”

Marlowe said Indigenous people should have more opportunities to participate in those professional and decision-making sides of projects, rather than being concentrated in more limited roles.

Though the conference offered panels dedicated to Indigenous partnerships, Marlowe and several others spoke from the floor during question-and-answer sessions to challenge leaders on what happens next for Indigenous communities.

“I just raise the question because there are a lot of non-Indigenous people taking up Indigenous relations roles,” Marlowe told Cabin Radio.

Considering the number of firms operating in the NWT, “you would think we would be sought for our Indigenous knowledge and traditional knowledge, but we’re not,” she said.

“We’re in a colonial space, it’s just got different colour lipstick on.”

Arctic Corridor partnership

The NWT is attempting to advance some major projects either as partnerships with Indigenous governments or initiatives fully led by First Nations.

The Arctic Economic and Security Corridor, a road from the NWT to Nunavut, is now being led by the Yellowknives Dene First Nation and Tłı̨chǫ Government. 

Jeff Rosnawski, a Yellowknives Dene First Nation representative working on the Arctic Corridor’s development, said the partnership is intended to ensure Indigenous governments remain decision-makers and stewards of their traditional territories.

“It brings prosperity to our future generations if it’s done right,” said Rosnawski. 

It also reflects a lesson passed down by Elders: Indigenous communities are stronger when they work together, Rosnawski said.

The Yellowknives Dene First Nation and Tłı̨chǫ Government have said decisions regarding the Arctic Corridor – a highway starting west of Yellowknife and running up to Nunavut’s Arctic coast – are intended to protect caribou and livelihoods while also creating opportunities for future generations. 

The highway’s starting point was specifically chosen to be a minimum of 15 km outside the municipality of Yellowknife, its developers say. Doing so creates an intersection First Nations businesses can target with the aim of maximizing benefits to Indigenous nations rather than the city.

Which communities see benefits from the coming investment to the NWT was a question raised by Behchokǫ̀ Chief Bertha Rabesca Zoe. The Department of National Defence, for example, has earmarked spending worth $10 billion or more for Yellowknife and Inuvik over the next 15 years, but whether smaller communities will see a share of that is unclear.

Behchokǫ̀ is a Tłı̨chǫ community located on Highway 3 west of Yellowknife, on the other side of the Arctic Corridor’s proposed starting point.

Chief Rabesca Zoe said her community has land, businesses and experience with major infrastructure projects. She wants governments and the military to recognize the capacity that exists in communities beyond the territory’s largest centres. 

“We all need to benefit as well, not just Yellowknife and Inuvik,” she said.

“It’s great for them, but we also need to make sure our people in the communities are employed. We all have infrastructure deficits. We all have infrastructure challenges, and we’ve got to make sure the communities most affected also benefit from what’s happening up here.”

Caroline Wawzonek, the territory’s major projects minister, stressed the NWT’s model – partnerships on major projects and regulatory co-management with Indigenous peoples – offers an opportunity to do things differently compared to other parts of Canada. 

Acknowledging recent complaints from the Deninu Kųę́ First Nation, which has pulled support for major projects over a concern it is “not being invited to the table,” Wawzonek said collaborative leadership “doesn’t mean every day is smooth or easy, and it doesn’t mean there aren’t issues to resolve, and I don’t want to ever minimize that.”

“It’s complicated at times,” she continued, “but I think it puts us in a place to show Canada you can build differently. It takes sometimes a bit of a creative approach, but I’m confident we can get there.”

‘My First Nation, we can help’

Chief James Marlowe of the Łútsël K’é Dene First Nation rose at the end of a Wednesday conference session to say that despite those good intentions, some communities feel left out.

“We’re talking about mega funding for infrastructure but yet, in my community, we hardly have anything,” Chief Marlowe said.

“We’re asking the Government of the Northwest Territories for help in education, health, infrastructure, roads – nothing. But yet I hear all kinds of good things happening. Mega projects, mega million dollars.

“I think before anything happens, you should take care of the smaller communities in the Northwest Territories.”

Marlowe said his community has heard about new training and employment opportunities while continuing to face basic infrastructure gaps. He wants governments to consider how smaller communities could participate in coming major projects.

“My small little First Nation, we can help out,” he said, characterizing his message to the federal and territorial governments.

During the conference, the GNWT announced a new “workforce ready” program offering up to $100,000 to community and Indigenous governments to help residents prepare for employment opportunities to come.

Wawzonek said the GNWT is also looking at training pathways that can take workers beyond entry-level construction jobs toward trades, professional roles and long-term employment.