DIAND pulls the plug on Iqaluit water licence

IQALUIT — Nunavut beneficiaries who believe their land claim agreement provides iron-clad protections for the environment may be in for a nasty surprise.

That’s because Indian Affairs Minister Bob Nault is refusing to recognize the validity of Iqaluit’s water licence, a move that could bury the Iqaluit water-licence process in a bottomless bureaucratic sink-hole.

The Nunavut Water Board, one of the land claim agreement’s family of environmental watchdog boards, issued the licence Jan. 1. It contains strict waste- management and sewage-treatment measures that the City of Iqaluit has been unable to comply with and wants the water board to change.

“The minister has not yet approved the proposed licence. Consequently, it would appear that the board lacks the authority to revisit the licence terms at this time,” DIAND employee Paul Smith said in a June 22 letter to the water board.

Because of this, Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. has now entered the dispute as an ally of the water board.

James Eetoolook, NTI’s acting president, defended the board’s authority in a July 9 letter addressed to Nault. “As you know, NTI maintains that ministerial approval of NWB water licences is not required under the [land claims agreement,” Eetoolook told Nault.

DIAND therefore has “a legal, political and moral obligation to the people of Iqaluit, Nunavut, and Canada” to enforce water licences in Nunavut, Eetoolook said.

“A mockery”

“DIAND’s failure to do so renders the NWB ineffectual and makes a mockery of water licences in Nunavut,” Eetoolook said.

Water board officials also insist that the city’s Jan. 1 water licence is valid.

“The licence is valid until set aside by a federal court judge. The question of enforceability is in the hands of DIAND inspectors who should act whenever there is evidence of a breach of a licence,” the board’s executive director, Philippe di Pi o, said in a July 11 memo.

“The Minister has not yet approved the proposed licence. Consequently, it would appear that the Board lacks the authority to revisit the licence terms at this time.”

– DIAND employee Paul Smith to the Nunavut Water Board

If DIAND doesn’t recognize the water licence, no one knows who will enforce it, since DIAND staff are responsible for enforcing fresh-water environmental standards.

For his part, Iqaluit Mayor John Matthews says DIAND and the water board must resolve their dispute before the Iqaluit water licencing process can go forward.

“We’re getting caught in the middle between jurisdictional disputes involving the water board and DIAND,” Matthews said.

For the past two years, local activists opposed to open burning in Iqaluit have used the water licencing process to force the city into new, environmentally sound ways of handling garbage.

That three-year licence — imposed Jan. 1 — says the city should have stopped open burning by June 1, and must have its sewage treatment plant up and running by Aug. 1.

“[Y]ou have a legal, political and moral obligation to the people of Iqaluit, Nunavut, and Canada to take action and to enforce water licences in Nunavut.”

– NTI acting president James Eetoolook to Indian Affairs Minister Bob Nault

But as far back as last February, Iqaluit Mayor John Matthews said the city doesn’t have the money or the time to do what the water board requires — including the construction of an incinerator for plastics and other materials that produce poisonous furans and dioxins when burned.

“If we are mandated by the water board to put in an incinerator, where is that money coming from?” Matthews said.

Matthews said the city needs to find about $8 million to pay its share of an incinerator. He said the Department of Community Government has pledged only $2.2 million towards the project.

Because of this, and other headaches caused by the city’s three-month-old work stoppage, the city has asked the water board to ease up on its deadlines.

Should NTI go to court?

A decision on that application could be a long way off. The water board has received 25 submissions so far on Iqaluit’s application for water licence amendments.

Philippe di Pi o said last week that because of the public interest in the issue, the water board will hold a public meeting in Iqaluit before making a decision.

Meanwhile, Iqaluit residents hoping for an end to the production of toxic smoke at their city dump are getting fed up.

“I’m a bit baffled that DIAND is taking this position, when I think anyone in their right mind can easily see smoke landing in fresh water, and therefore being subject to the jurisdiction of the water board,” Iqaluit resident Paul Crowley said.

Crowley, who is a lawyer, said he believes DIAND’s reading of the Nunavut land claims agreement is incorrect, and that approval from the minister is not required to validate a water licence.

He says NTI or the water board may need the courts to force DIAND into recognizing the validity of the water licence and enforce its provisions.

“If I was either NTI or the water board, what I’d be doing is I would be going to court seeking a “mandamus,” an order from the court asking the court to order DIAND to do this,” Crowley said.

DIAND supports burn order

Meanwhile, low-level DIAND officials in Iqaluit have been stuck with the job of defending Ottawa’ s stand on the status of Iqaluit’s water licence.

Steven Traynor, the operations manager for DIAND in Nunavut, says his department’ s position is that its dispute with the water board should be resolved through negotiations.

“We are confident that it can be resolved in the long term in partnership with stakeholders,” Traynor said.

As for the recent burning of toxic materials at the Iqaluit dump, DIAND supports the order issued June 29 by Nunavut’s medical health officer, Ann Roberts.

“The order from the Department of Health takes paramountcy over any direction from the Nunavut Water Board,” said DIAND press officer Jennifer Lilly.

“We respect the order from the Department of Health has put out. It takes precedence over any direction from the water board, and in the short term that is our primary concern right now.”

When asked why Nault has not signed the water board’s licence, Lilly said it’s because DIAND lawyers are still studying it.

“Legal counsel is working on various issues,” Lilly said.