(Norman Wells resident Danny McNeely is a former MLA for the Sahtu. This is the second half of a guest column on the NWT economy.)
It is incumbent on all of us to reduce the impacts of carbonization in any manner that is available to us.
There are a number of avenues that should be considered. Run-of-the-river hydro production has been proven feasible through an array of study and assessment. The transition to renewable power development and the freedom from fossil fuel dependence will deliver incredible economic and environmental benefit.
Coincident with our goal of economic and environmental stability is the focus on education. We have a fiduciary responsibility to our youth and it is of paramount importance that significant education reform be implemented. Education is the pillar to security. It is likely the only thing that may not be taken away from us.
Education reform has to be a team approach. Educators, administrators, government and parents must unite on a collaborative basis to design curriculum and subsequent implementation to ensure the needs and expectations of our most valuable asset — being our children — are met.
In developing an educational platform, it is of absolute importance that program development maintain academic integrity. In the ultimate reformation of course design, a renewed and perhaps specific focus on trades may be appropriate. The inordinate cost to our communities for importation of skilled personnel in ongoing maintenance and expansion of our respective infrastructures is excessive. Clearly, every community in the NWT has a need for in-community qualified trades personnel.
Additionally, the NWT by default is subject to imminent reclamation and environmental clean-up activities. Whether it was poor environmental stewardship, inadequate regulatory guidelines, rapacious mineral developers or simply natural circumstance, the NWT and our communities are at the centre of environmental mayhem.
Our land management now includes environmental contamination and the respective remediation. Whether it is the catastrophic reality of ineptitude, incompetence and reckless disregard as evidenced by Port Radium or the planned reclamation of Imperial Oil’s production site in Norman Wells, environmental cleanup and land reclamation will be a dominant factor for the ensuing long term.
Environmental cleanup, including remediation and land reclamation, is not specific to the Northwest Territories, but it certainly has its fair share of situations. Accordingly, would the focus to develop technical programs to enhance both the science and modernize and standardize its implementation not be a long-term opportunity for our youth?
In most of these environmental situations prevalent on our lands, government ineptitude and indeed culpability plays a role. Whether it is regulatory deficiency and inferior oversight or the operator avoiding financial responsibility through “shell company” licensing, the problem and aftermath is ours.
Accordingly, through structured assistance of the federal government, it would be of critical significance to establish an appropriate curriculum specific to the burgeoning opportunity land reclamation presents. In concert with this program development, which could readily lead to an appropriate bachelor of science recognition, could be the establishment of a local instructional college established in the Northwest Territories.
Graduates would be poised to assist in our vast array of regional situations and this unique specialization would be welcomed worldwide. Environmental calamity is not unique to our region as the world continues to exploit “Mother Earth” with little or no regard to her preservation. A world-class institution to tackle world-class problems could and should be here!
The NWT must demand a responsive government with the experience and determination to realize and maximize existing and potential opportunities available to us. Our economic stability demands it, our environmental stewardship demands it, and our future through our youth warrants it.