Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Feds shouldn’t rely on $30-billion in resource projects for economic development in North

The federal government is banking on some $30-billion worth of resource projects to bring social and economic development to Canada’s territories, but industry watchdog Mining Watch Canada says the resource boom can’t replace cuts to federally funded development programs.

Mining Watch Canada coordinator Ramsey Hart said that his organization fully supports benefits from resource projects going to aboriginal communities in the territories, but noted that it is important for those groups to be fully informed of the impacts that such projects have on the local environment and culture.

“I think a really big concern about the way that this government is treating resource development in the North is with its reliance on economic development as a way to deal with significant social issues that are found in the North,” Mr. Hart said.

He cited the elimination of the National Aboriginal Health Organization in the last budget as an example of an important federally funded program that could not be replaced by resource development. With an annual budget of $4.4-million, the NAHO produced health studies on aboriginal communities in the North. The organization ceased its operations at the end of June.

Mr. Hart said the NAHO was one of the few programs that focused on issues such as the impact of resource development on community health.

“To just assume that these projects will address social issues is really naive and runs the risk of further exacerbating some of the social issues in the North,” he said.

During his tour of Canada’s North last week, Prime Minister Stephen Harper (Calgary Southwest, Alta.) said that the North’s energy and natural resources sectors are directly benefiting communities in the territories. “Our government is committed to ensuring that Northerners benefit from the tremendous natural resource reserves that are found in their region,” he told an audience at the Minto copper-gold mine in the Yukon last Tuesday. “Not every one of these measures is easy or is popular with everybody … but the reason we do them is they are all in the long-term best interests of this country.”

According to Natural Resources Canada records, $30-billion worth of investment in Arctic resource projects is anticipated in the coming years. The list includes 13 mines and three energy projects which are at various stages of development. Many of the project proponents are still working out benefit sharing agreements with neighbouring aboriginal communities.

Toronto-based Avalon Rare Metals has proposed the Nechalacho rare earth elements mine in the Northwest Territories. The mine is priced at $1.2-billion and will be a source of rare elements found in electronics and magnets used in clean technology.

Avalon recently announced an agreement with the region’s Deninu Ku’e and is finalizing agreements with local Yellowknife and Lutsel K’e Dene. In addition to creating employment opportunities and programs to mitigate environmental and cultural impacts, Avalon is assisting the Deninu Ku’e in financing a stake in the project.

David Swisher, Avalon’s vice-president of operations, called the agreement “a huge milestone” in developing the project.

“We know mining has a very checkered past, so there were concerns initially about what we’re doing in the development of this project,” Mr. Swisher said. “With any project in the Northwest Territories in particular, there’s more concern with the social aspect of the community, and what it’s going to do to the community with regards to jobs and the inflow and outflow from the community.”

The Mary River iron ore mine on Baffin Island is another mining megaproject slated for the Arctic in the coming years.

Toronto-based mining company Baffinland is currently working towards an impact and benefit agreement with the Qikiqtani Inuit Association and expects the Nunavut Impact Review Board to make a recommendation on the $4.2-billion project to Aboriginal and Northern Affairs Minister John Duncan (Vancouver Island North, B.C.) in early September.
Baffinland’s efforts to win over the QIA were under scrutiny after the company’s majority stakeholder, ArcelorMittal, hosted the QIA’s president on an Olympic junket earlier this month.

Baffinland president Tom Paddon said that the project will create up to 5,000 jobs in the construction phase and will employ 950 in its operations. The project will require building a 150-kilometre railway and a deep sea port. Mr. Paddon said that the project was an important opportunity for nearby communities such as Igloolik, Pond Inlet, Arctic Bay, and Clyde River.

“These projects bring the possibility of people engaging in either a technical or trades career without having to leave and go south,” Mr. Paddon said. “They give younger people opportunities to stay in their communities.”

 While mining projects are leading the Arctic resource boom, the 1,200 kilometre MacKenzie Valley pipeline, which would carry natural gas from the MacKenzie River Delta south through the Northwest Territories to northern Alberta, remains stalled because of low demand for the hydrocarbon.

The $17-billion project has the potential to create significant economic benefits for aboriginal communities in the region. Proponents of the project include Imperial Oil, Shell Canada, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, and the Aboriginal Pipeline Group, which represents the territories’ Sahtu, Inuvialuit and Gwich’in First Nations.

If the project is to proceed, the APG would be a 33 per cent stakeholder in the project. The APG is seeking federal assistance in financing its share of the project, which it would then pay back out of profits from shipping fees paid by natural gas producers.

APG chair Fred Carmichael said the project could be a “great opportunity” for aboriginal peoples in the Northwest Territories, but he’s frustrated with the federal government’s reluctance to get involved in the financing of the project.

“The government keeps talking about the importance of the North,” said Mr. Carmichael. “I’d like to be able to sit down with our partners and aboriginal shareholders and figure out how we can make this go forward. This is a very important project to the Northwest Territories and Canada.”

Original Article
Source: hill times
Author: CHRIS PLECASH 

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