Alberta-Pacific Environmental 3/4 Review Panel

Jim Bourque, Deputy Minister Renewable Resources, GNWT: Mr.. Chairman let me once again say that I am delighted that we had this opportunity to participate in these hearings. Let me say that I commend you and your Board for the manner in which you have conducted the hearings. I am not going to say very much different, anything different than I have said before, and I will be very brief.

I want to make a few things clear. One is that we understand fully the significance of creating employment, creating wealth. We understand the importance of jobs for people, especially our young people. We understand all those situations.

When we compare what we are doing and what will result from the pulp mill operation or any kind of industrial activity outside of the Northwest Territories, we are more concerned in our part of the country about putting food on the table. You have all been to Resolution. We live there. I live there. I used to be a trapper before I got this job. I lived off the land, and I understand what it's like. Ninety per cent of our people still live that land-based activity.

We are concerned about jobs. We want to provide the best we can for our citizens, but the first thing first is to provide food on the table for our families.

Mr.. Chairman, as far as diversity of the economy in Alberta and any other province that borders our territory, we can understand why they want to do it. All we are saying is that for a long time now, our territory has been used as a dumping ground for chemicals that are not produced in our territory. Our food chain is contaminated, and this is a fact, it's not a hoax. It's contaminated to the point of where our people are afraid to eat the resources that are available, the resources that they have lived on and sustained their life for generations.

So to us, sir, this is a very serious matter. We are not here to try and threaten or to bluff. We are here to state our case. We are going to state it as clearly as possible. Our technical submission will stand on its own, I am positive of that and we will be very interested to hear and, I am sure, very concerned about the panel report and the resolutions that are made by the panel. You have an enormous job and a difficult one.

I would like to just deviate a bit from that and state that maybe in a broader sense, we said in Fort Smith that the Mackenzie Valley drainage system should be treated as total ecosystem. I have heard this over and over as I followed the hearings, or I got reports on the hearings.

This must be what happens. We cannot separate the Athabasca River from the Mackenzie River, or the Smoky River from the Peace River, or the Peace River from the Slave River, or the Slave River from the Mackenzie River. It is all a total ecosystem.

In saying this, I know that we have a tremendous responsibility on us that are here operating this earth. We are caretakers of this planet for future generations. I'm not trying to put the burdens of the planet on the Board's shoulders. What I am trying to say is, we have to start someplace.

In Fort Smith we asked for zero discharge, and tonight I would like to challenge the scientific community to come up with a way to contain dangerous chemicals that flow in the rivers. We don't want any more. We already have pesticides, herbicides, mercury, toxaphene, cesium. We already have all these, and they are all gifts from other parts of the world, other jurisdictions.

We are saying we have enough of that now. We have enough. We don't want to continue to have to suffer in our part of the country for activities in other parts of the country.

So I think that now is an appropriate time to look at what we are doing and start to plan for the future. In saying this, we are not opposed to AlPac. We don't even know who they are.

What we are saying, it's time that we looked at the overall picture, and looked at the cumulative effects of these man-made toxic chemicals that are going in our rivers. That's what we are saying. We are looking at all the projects. Any industrial activity that's going to cut or reduce our options to make a living are a concern to us.

So Mr.. Chairman, just to restate our position, I said in Forth Smith that before approval is given to proceed with the project, we ask that transboundary agreements be negotiated and signed, or at the very minimum, a memorandum of understanding between the federal government, the Government of Alberta, and the Northwest Territories.

We ask for a monitoring program, not only of the water, but the sediment, to tell us whether or not our streams are being polluted. In this regard, we are prepared to participate. We are prepared to buy into that process.

And we ask for zero discharge. Surely we can find a way in this era, in this time in history, we can find a way to make paper without polluting the rivers. If we can't, then we have to question whether or not we should continue to use white paper. That is the question here. There is other paper that doesn't hurt the environment.

So I think that we have to start to think globally. We have to understand that the world we are living in cannot be traded in. It's only one world, we can't sell it, and what we do now will determine whether or not mankind survives. As simple as that.

I have got beautiful grandchildren, four of them, and I want them to be able to go to the river and have a drink of water, just like every Albertan wants, just like everyone in Canada wants.

Mr.. Chairman, when we are pushing hard to ensure that the river is not contaminated any further, at least our part, all our parts of the country, is not contaminated any further, it's for a good cause. And it's not only for us, it's for all Canadians, because that river belongs to all Canadians. The ecosystem belongs to all Canadians. The Arctic belongs to all Canadians. And indeed, it's of interest to the world.

So, Mr. Chairman, there is not much more that I can say, except that in your final report, I hope that you give these considerations very, very serious thought because to us, they are important. And to you they are important. To every Canadian they are important.

With that, Mr. Chairman, I would just like to say again that I thank you very much for this opportunity. It has been my pleasure to be asked by my government to present our position. As a former trapper and a person that lives on the land, I think I have a feeling for both sides, as a bureaucrat, but also as a person that had to live the lifestyle. Had to live with people in Res, had to live with people in Broughton Island, had to live with people in McPherson, had to live with people in Fort Norman, Norman Wells, and live on the land.

I think that you may have got a bit of an insight on what we really feel about our part of the country and the environment when you were in Resolution and Fort Smith.

Sir, with that, I look forward to hearing the results of our presentation on Monday. I won't be here for that, sir, but we have a team of technical experts that are working for us that will be here, and I am positive that we will state our cases very strongly, and hope that it helps you in your deliberations. Thank you very much, sir.