Where’s the DIAND monitoring plan?

This month, the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development was required to explain its failure to put a Nunavut General Monitoring Plan in place.

When the Prime Minister of Canada signed the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement (NLCA) in 1993, in Article 12.7.6, he agreed to develop a plan to monitor Nunavut’s environment. To reassure the territory they would not have to pay for this monitoring plan, DIAND signed a funding agreement in 1993 with the territorial government.

Four months ago, Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. petitioned the Auditor-General of Canada to make DIAND Minister Andrew Scott explain why the monitoring plan was not in place. This is a reasonable request because all federal departments are required to have sustainable development plans. DIAND, with responsibility for all Crown lands in Canada’s three territories, is expected to have a plan that covers the most sensitive environment in Canada.

Earlier this month, Minister Scott responded to the Auditor-General and offered classic DIAND excuses. He said the success of the monitoring plan depended on the Government of Nunavut, various management boards, and other federal departments and agencies — even though DIAND has failed to provide these agencies with the resources to do the job. The absence of the monitoring plan was the fault of all these other organizations, not DIAND, said minister Scott.

In responding to the Auditor General, DIAND picked through its old filing cabinets and came up with a short list of monitoring activities they have undertaken, most of which are in Nunavut’s West Kitikmeot region and the Northwest Territories. When you don’t have anything to show for your efforts, every little thing counts.

Rarely a day passes that climate change and Nunavut’s fragile environment are not in the national and international news. Inuit are constantly told their homeland is experiencing severe change, so much so that the Inuit Circumpolar Conference is suing the United States government for its contribution to global warming in Inuit lands. DIAND’s failure to take the lead in organizing the monitoring of this sensitive environment is nothing short of reckless.

DIAND is responsible for 82 per cent of the land in Nunavut and most of the fresh water, and they are the most powerful federal agency in the North. The NLCA requires them to develop a plan to coordinate the monitoring of the environment, and to provide this data to the Nunavut Planning Commission so intelligent decisions can be made about the use of the land and water. This is not an expensive initiative but it does require leadership and commitment to the environment. DIAND, in spite of its large presence in the North, has never been able to provide that leadership.

Inuit are still trying to persuade the Government of Canada to deliver on the promises they made to improve the quality of life, but we are discovering that the government always gets what it wants and delivers only what it is forced to. This is just one more example of how the federal government is failing to meet its obligations to implement the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement.

Paul Kaludjak
President
Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.