by Terry Fenge

January 23, 1992: Two documents were signed that have great bearing on the public assessment and review of Hydro-Quebec's proposed Great Whale hydroelectric development project. The first, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOW) between the federal and Quebec governments, the Cree Regional Authority, the Grand Council of the Cree, Makivik Corporation and the Kativik Regional Government. It provides for a "global review" of the proposed project. The second, a letter signed by all except the two governments, provides for a "preferential forum" in which to exchange and examine "pertinent documents concerning the justification of the Great Whale Project".

The MOU-a legally binding contract-is a curious document. It contains provisions for a "global review" of the project by various panels and committees, and for coordination of the assessment by these bodies. Federal and provincial governments agree to pay equally for the administrative and support services to the committees. A Joint Support Team-including representatives of the Cree Regional Authority and Makivik Corporation are to assist the committees. The MOU defines the major steps of the assessment, including public meetings and hearings to scope the issues and to examine the EIS.

The MOU deals also with funding for intervenors. The federal and Quebec governments agree to contribute $1 million each to fund participants. Both Makivik and the Cree Regional Authority are to be represented on the committee which recommends who gets the funds. The MOU provides that persons living in the "territory" will have priority for the funds available, and it requires that two-thirds of the funds be allocated to "persons or groups living in the territory" who will be "directly impacted". Surprisingly, the Northwest Territories is not included within the meaning of "territory".

Interests in the Northwest Territories, including the territorial government and Inuit of the Belcher Islands, are not party to either agreement. They were not even informed that these agreements were being negotiated. Yet the impacts of the project, if it proceeds, will undoubtedly extend to the Northwest Territories. When the MOU was signed, those representing the federal government do not appear to have considered the territorial North. It took political interventions-including participation in the scoping hearings-by the community of Sanikiluaq, the Tungavik Federation of Nunavut, the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada, the territorial government, and CARC, before nearly $500,000 was awarded to the people of Sanikiluaq to help them participate in the assessment process. This funding was provided by the federal government over and above the financial contribution required under the MOU. In short, it was only after interests in the territorial North politically muscled their way into the game that the federal government started to acknowledge its obligations to territorial residents.

The second agreement-the letter-is even more curious. This is because it may prejudice the public nature of the assessment defined under its sister document, the MOU. The letter is not signed by representatives of the federal or Quebec governments, but the Minister of the Environment was present when it was signed. Apparently representatives of the Cree would not have signed the MOU without the additional assurances provided in the letter.

The purpose of the letter is to winkle out of Hydro-Quebec documents such as industrial contracts that relate to the economic justification of the Great Whale project. Hydro-Quebec and the government of Quebec have consistently refused to make public, contracts with industry, particularly with the aluminum industry, which may consume electricity generated by the Great Whale project. Yet in setting up a "preferential forum" for the examination of such documents the letter does not require that this information be made public, even though Hydro-Quebec accepts in the MOU that it will address the economic justification of the project in its EIS.

The letter notes: "The Joint Support Team and the committees, commission and Panels may request and obtain the documents furnished by Hydro-Quebec concerning the Project during meetings of the group." (emphasis added). If information relating to the Great Whale project is made available by Hydro-Quebec on a selective basis-some groups get it, others do not-then the basis of the environmental assessment itself is eroded, perhaps irrevocably. A "global review" suggests a holistic approach, a level playing field, and an unobstructed view of the action.

The MOU and letter, and the less than vigorous participation of federal agencies in the scoping hearings on the Great Whale project raise the question: who in Ottawa is standing up for the territorial North when projects in the South that impact the territorial North are being considered? Or to put it colloquially; is the North just fair game, or in a fair game?