Context
Devolution
The 2014 Northwest Territories Lands and Resources Devolution Agreement is the driver for much of the new legislation under development in the NWT right now.
Context
The 2014 Northwest Territories Lands and Resources Devolution Agreement is the driver for much of the new legislation under development in the NWT right now.
In April 2014, the Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) took over responsibility for managing its public lands, water, and natural resources from the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada.
Before the agreement, the Government of the Northwest Territories controlled only small amounts of public land (called Commissioner’s Land) within or near NWT communities. The GNWT managed these lands under its own Commissioner’s Land Act.
After devolution, the GNWT took control over most of the NWT’s remaining public lands (previously called Crown land, which was managed by the federal government through its Territorial Lands Act).
Devolution was a big deal and it required the GNWT to create many acts to recognize its new management authorities over its waters, lands, and natural resources. The GNWT was required to mirror the content of federal legislation and regulations for its own territorial acts and regulations for lands and waters. In total, the GNWT mirrored 26 federal acts and regulations, but this legislation was typically outdated or written with an outsider’s view of the Northwest Territories.
An important reason for signing the devolution deal was to have Northwest Territories residents guide decisions about their own environment and economy. The GNWT committed to amending and updating its legislation to better reflect the realities, needs, and desires of all residents of the Northwest Territories.
Even after devolution, the GNWT does not control all of the land in the Northwest Territories. Sovereignty over NWT lands is shared between the federal, territorial, Indigenous and municipal governments. The Government of Canada retains authority over national parks and contaminated sites—and waters within those sites. Indigenous government organizations with self-government or land and rights agreements decide what happens on their lands and waters through Indigenous laws, land-use planning, and land and water boards. Indigenous government organizations also have rights over their traditional lands, while community governments have some authority to manage lands within their own municipalities.
When devolution occurred, the Northwest Territories inherited an approach to land and water management that provided decision-making powers to territorial and Indigenous government organizations, under three federal acts: the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act, the Territorial Lands Act and NWT Waters Act.
The GNWT has since replaced the Territorial Lands Act and NWT Waters Act with its own legislation—the Northwest Territories Land Act and Waters Act. But, again, these new territorial acts were largely based on their federal predecessors.
Now, much of the NWT’s current legislation related to land, water, and natural resource management needs updating. New and amended regulations and acts are required to bring GNWT laws in line with the responsibilities it gained through devolution, while also simplifying processes and clarifying authorities and rules defined under various acts. This new legislation should give the GNWT the ability to better balance environmental protections with social and economic needs, but it must also reflect what Northwest Territories residents actually want to see occurring on their lands. GNWT also has the opportunity to incorporate stronger public participation in its environmental and resource management legislation and regulations as it committed to with its 2018 Open Government Policy.
Most, but not all, Indigenous government organizations in the NWT have signed onto the devolution agreement, including:
In the years since, the GNWT and these Indigenous government organizations have come together to create the Intergovernmental Council, which gives each organization a say in any new or amended legislation and regulations that affects land, water, or natural resource management.
Commissioner’s land: This was public land administered by the GNWT through its Commissioner’s Land Act.
Crown land: This was public land administered by the federal government through its Territorial Lands Act.
Public lands: These comprise all lands previously known as Commissioner’s land or Crown land. They are now administered by the GNWT through its Northwest Territories Land Act, Commissioner's Land Act and Waters Act, along with the federal government’s Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act. (The Public Land Act will repeal and replace the Northwest Territories Land Act and Commissioner's Land Act once its regulations are approved and the act comes into force.)
