Nunavut and Northwest Territories Historical Context
Prior to 1999, the Northwest Territories (NWT) and Nunavut (NU) comprised one very large territory (NWT), which covered 3.4 million square kilometers (Meyer 2001). The Nunavut Land Claim Agreement (NLCA) was signed in 1993 and led to the establishment of Nunavut in 1999 from the eastern portion of the NWT. Four land claims have been settled in the Northwest Territories: the Inuvialuit Final Agreement (1984), the Gwich’in (Dene/Metis) Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement (1992), the Sahtu Dene and Metis Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement (1993), and the Tlicho Agreement (2003). Negotiations continue with the Dehcho First Nations, Akaitcho Territory Government, and the NWT Metis Nation covering the southern parts of the NWT.
Devolution agreements for natural resources are in varying stages in the Canadian Arctic. A devolution agreement in Yukon came into effect on April 1, 2003, and transferred control over land and resource management to the territory. Control over onshore oil and gas was transferred in 1998; however, offshore management remains a federal responsibility. On April 1, 2014, the NWT devolution agreement came into effect, which transferred the management of public land, water, and resources to the territory. The offshore remains under federal jurisdiction. Devolution negotiations in Nunavut are ongoing. However, these negotiations will not include sea bed resources. Rather, the parties involved will, as part of a devolution agreement, determine when negotiations regarding sea bed resources will take place.
Natural resource development has been increasing in the North and is widely viewed as a means for Northern areas to gain more independence and self-sufficiency and decrease dependence on federal transfers. For instance, in 2010-2011, the Government of Nunavut received 88% ($1.1 billion dollars) of its revenue from transfers and the government of NWT received about 71% (960 million)[1].
[1] http://www.fin.gc.ca/fedprov/mtp-eng.asp
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The content for this province was peer-reviewed in Oct 2013. We’d like to acknowledge the assistance of the external reviewers and Leah Fusco who authored this webpage content.
