The NWT Council of Leaders are in Ottawa to push the federal government to address northern priorities and advance major infrastructure projects.
“We’re open for business,” said NWT Premier RJ Simpson at a press conference.
“We’re down here, talking with leaders, talking about what we need and how we can work with the federal government to open up the region.”
Simpson was joined at the press conference by NWT deputy premier Caroline Wawzonek, NWT Métis Nation president Garry Bailey, Gwich’in Tribal Council Grand Chief Frederick Blake Jr, Tłı̨chǫ Grand Chief Jackson Lafferty, Yellowknives Dene First Nation councillor Jeff Rosnawski, and North Slave Métis Alliance president Marc Whitford.
This is the third year the NWT Council of Leaders has come to Ottawa to lobby as a united front, and they are receiving more attention than ever before, Simpson said.
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The council was formed in 2021 through a memorandum of understanding between the GNWT, the Indigenous governments listed above, and the Acho Dene Koe First Nation, Akaitcho Dene First Nations, Délı̨nę Got’ı̨nę Government, Inuvialuit Regional Corporation, Kátł’odeeche First Nation, Nahanni Butte Dene Band, Salt River First Nation, and Sahtu Secretariat Incorporated.
As of Tuesday afternoon, a GNWT spokesperson said the NWT Council of Leaders had meetings with 10 ministers and two parliamentary secretaries on October 5 and 6.
Federal ministers “prepared for us. They get briefed on the various initiatives that we’re undertaking in the North,” said Lafferty.
Lafferty pointed to a recently renewed federal-territorial agreement on healthcare and 16 health infrastructure projects announced on October 5 as an example of progress.
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“There’s many issues that we’re raising this week that are very positive and we’re very hopeful,” said Wawzonek.
“But there’s a lot of issues where it’s very clear that the federal system, federal agencies don’t necessarily understand the structures, the politics or the way that we govern in the North.”
Infrastructure projects and land claims
During the press conference, NWT leaders also voiced their support for major projects like the Arctic Economic and Security Corridor, Mackenzie Valley Highway and the Taltson hydro expansion.
“The Indigenous people, along with the governments hand-in-hand, are going to build those highways, build those dams, and do whatever else that we got to do in order to make this country proper and self-sustaining,” said Whitford.
The two highway projects in particular would open up regions with resource-rich areas for development, Simpson said.
These infrastructure projects are among the many priorities the NWT Council of Leaders have all agreed on, but leaders are also taking the opportunity to have face-to-face meetings with federal ministers and decision-makers on their own unique issues.
Bailey told Cabin Radio the NWT Métis Nation’s number one goal is self government, adding settling land claims must follow, with the ultimate goal of building the economy.
“We have been negotiating [the land claim] since 1996, so having these opportunities to come out here and meet with all the ministers and continue to put pressure on the government to start implementing the Daniels decision, for health benefits,” said Bailey, “it’s a great opportunity for us.”
