Principled Flexibility and Environmental Co-Management in the Mackenzie Valley
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Western University Scholarship@Western Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository 10-7-2016 12:00 AM Regulating for Resilience: Principled Flexibility and Environmental Co-Management in the Mackenzie Valley Heather L. Potter The University of Western Ontario Supervisor Professor Sara Seck The University of Western Ontario Graduate Program in Law A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree in Master of Laws © Heather L. Potter 2016 Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd Part of the Environmental Law Commons Recommended Citation Potter, Heather L., "Regulating for Resilience: Principled Flexibility and Environmental Co-Management in the Mackenzie Valley" (2016). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 4267. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/4267 This Dissertation/Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Western. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Western. For more information, please contact [email protected]. i Abstract The author examines the environmental regulatory regime in the Mackenzie Valley region of the Northwest Territories which includes the regulatory structure established by the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act and the private contractual instruments of environmental agreements, impact benefit agreements and socio-economic agreements. The author concludes that these instruments work together to form a complex regulatory system that is sometimes maladapted to the adaptive management framework necessary for effective regulation in an increasingly unstable arctic environment. The author argues that effective environmental management in the Mackenzie Valley requires a regulatory approach grounded in principled flexibility and shared environmental goals across a multiplicity of instruments. The Mackenzie Valley region is better suited than other regions to develop this approach due to its history of integrated resource management and co- management with Aboriginal people and because of the protections provided to Aboriginal rights by Section 35 of the Canadian constitution. Keywords Resource management; environmental regulation; resilience theory; adaptive management; Mackenzie Valley; co-management; impact benefits agreements; socio-economic agreements; environmental agreements, climate change. i ii Acknowledgments I would like to thank Professor Sara Seck, my thesis advisor for guidance and support in writing this thesis and her words of encouragement and practical advice that allowed me to see this project through to completion. I would like to thank Professor David Grinlinton who taught me a great deal about environmental regulation in New Zealand and allowed me to approach the regulatory regime in the Mackenzie Valley from a more critical perspective. I would also like to thank Professor Michael Coyle who taught me Aboriginal law and caused me to reflect on how much the Dene perspective influenced environmental regulation in the north. Most of all I would like to thank my family, my husband Glen and children, Natalie, Madeline and Nathaniel for their unwavering support and enthusiasm for this project that went on somewhat longer than we had anticipated. ii iii Table of Contents Contents Abstract .................................................................................................................................................. i Acknowledgments ............................................................................................................................. ii CHAPTER 1 ................................................................................................................................................ 1 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 1 CHAPTER TWO ........................................................................................................................................ 9 2 Regulatory Theory ................................................................................................................ 9 2.1 Command and Control Regulation ............................................................................. 9 2.2 Deregulation .................................................................................................................... 10 2.3 Responsive Regulation ................................................................................................. 11 2.4 Dynamic Federalism ..................................................................................................... 13 2.5 New Governance Theory ............................................................................................. 14 2.6 Resilience Theory .......................................................................................................... 17 CHAPTER 3 ............................................................................................................................................. 28 3 The Regulatory Regime Established in the Mackenzie Valley Region of the Northwest Territories .................................................................................................................. 28 3.1 A brief overview of Environmental Law in Canada and in the Northwest Territories ..................................................................................................................................... 28 3.2 A Brief Overview of Aboriginal Law in the Northwest Territories ............. 30 3.3 MVRMA - Origin in Comprehensive Land Claims ............................................... 33 3.4 Concluding Comments ................................................................................................. 46 CHAPTER 4 ............................................................................................................................................. 48 4 ENVIRONMENTAL AGREEMENTS ............................................................................... 48 4.1 History of Environmental Agreements in the Mackenzie Valley ................. 48 4.2 The Environmental Agreements .............................................................................. 52 4.3 Advantages of Environmental Agreements ......................................................... 60 4.4 Disadvantages of Environmental Agreements ................................................... 64 4.5 How Environmental Agreements Interact with the MVRMA Regulatory Process ........................................................................................................................................... 65 4.6 How Environmental Agreements Interact with Impact Benefit Agreements ................................................................................................................................... 67 CHAPTER 5 ............................................................................................................................................. 69 iii iv 5 IMPACT BENEFIT AGREEMENTS AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC AGREEMENTS . 69 5.1 Impact Benefit Agreements (IBAS) ......................................................................... 69 5.2 Socio-Economic Agreements (SEAs) ...................................................................... 78 CHAPTER 6 ............................................................................................................................................. 85 6 ANALYSIS .............................................................................................................................. 85 6.1 The Regulatory System in the Mackenzie Valley is operating as a complex and interactive system ............................................................................................................. 85 6.2 The MVRMA regulatory regime does not necessarily promote adaptive management ................................................................................................................................. 87 6.3 One of the Key Tools required for the Transition to an Adaptive Management Regime is “Principled Flexibility” ............................................................. 88 6.4 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 95 iv 1 CHAPTER 1 1 Introduction “First Nations are Canadians last, best hope of protecting the land, water, sky and plants and animals for their future generations as well.”1 The Canadian arctic is one of the most enigmatic regions on earth. This thesis focuses on the challenges of environmental regulation in northern Canada and suggests that some of the strategies developed in the arctic regions, particularly in the Mackenzie Valley region of the Northwest Territories (NWT), have the potential to assist regulators south of the 60th parallel. This thesis accepts that climate change is a true environmental and social challenge, and the effects of climate change are felt disproportionately in the arctic. In 2004, the Ministers of the Arctic Council, an international body made up of representatives from arctic nations, released the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA).2 More than 250 scientists and six circumpolar Indigenous peoples organizations participated in the ACIA, and the results of the study are disconcerting. The ACIA confirmed that the arctic climate is warming rapidly, and that this is likely to