Who protects Nunavut’s environment?

By JIM BELL

Does the Nunavut land claim agreement really protect Nunavut’s lands and waters?

After two days of hearings by the Nunavut Water Board in Iqaluit, that’s a difficult question to answer. Nunavut’s highly touted environmental protection regime now looks more like a sieve than a protective umbrella.

In 1992, the Tungavik Federation of Nunavut made many lofty promises when they and the federal government asked Inuit to surrender their aboriginal title in exchange for the rights and benefits contained in the Nunavut land claim agreement. Not the least of these promises were the assurances they gave concerning the future protection of Nunavut’s lands and waters.

The promise? They insisted repeatedly that since Nunavut’s network of public government management boards has jurisdiction over the entire Nunavut settlement area, Inuit needn’t worry about surrendering 80 per cent of their land to the Crown.

They neglected to mention, however, that those expensive boards have little or no ability to enforce the rules that they set.

The Nunavut Water Board is one of those land-claim related environmental protection bodies, now commonly known by the abbreviation “IPGs,” or “institutions of public government.” The water board is now considering what conditions will be imposed on a new water licence on the environmentally irresponsible municipality of Iqaluit.

Iqaluit residents already know that their community is home to two long-standing environmental hazards: the infamous municipal dump, and a faulty sewage lagoon that is in the process of being replaced.

In a month or so, when the water board is expected to decide on the terms of Iqaluit’s new water licence, water board members may well impose a tough new water licence on the Town of Iqaluit. Such a licence ought to include provisions for the long-term waste management plan that the Town has defaulted on, a garbage incinerator, well as provisions for recycling and garbage separation programs.

But even if the water board does clamp down on the Town of Iqaluit, will it really matter?

Iqaluit’s municipal government has flouted the terms of its last licence with impunity. Town officials were supposed to produce a long-term waste management plan by Jan.1, 1997. Presumably, such a plan would resolve the problem of the “temporary” dump on the causeway that is supposed to be replaced next year.

But like the original “temporary” dump that it replaced in 1995, it now looks as if Town officials plan to use its new temporary dump indefinitely, burning as much toxic garbage as they can get away with.

The most disturbing revelation to emerge from last week’s hearings is that no one seems to know who has the power to enforce compliance with the terms of a new water licence. In their wishy-washy submissions to the board, DIAND officials dodged the issue, saying they couldn’t answer the question one way or another.

That’s too bad. Because if no one can answer that question, the credibility of a very expensive bureaucratic construction will have been badly damaged in the eyes of Nunavut residents. JB

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