Thank you, Mr. Speaker. For the last 20 years or more, Yellowknife residents have been unable to lease land for a cabin or a campsite of their own. Some people have taken matters into their own hands and are now firmly established in the area as squatters. Our Department of Municipal and Community Affairs started to take action to deal with squatters a few years ago. In 2009 MACA placed a moratorium on recreational land leases and began work to develop a recreational Land Lease Policy framework. A consultant was contacted to study the areas around Yellowknife and Inuvik in particular and to recommend changes in the Land Lease Policy.
A month ago the result of that work was made public and comments were invited. The discussion paper suggests adding 35 new cabin lots and 17 casual or day-use lots in the Yellowknife city area. I truly appreciate the work done for this report and MACA has actively consulted with the public on this document since its release, but as I mentioned the other day, the consultation has come at the end of the process instead of at the beginning.
The Yellowknife public meetings pointed out a number of flaws in MACA’s work to date on this policy. I would like to mention what I heard from constituents. One, the study area was only a portion of the Commissioner’s land around this city. The First Nations whose traditional lands encompass this area have not been consulted. The consultant’s recommendations are based on a desk study. There was no on-the-ground evaluation of the study area. The current leaseholders and lake users were not consulted for their advice on the expansion. The new lots are poorly placed, some on swampy land, some on a shoreline where water depth is two feet or less, many in close proximity to each other and/or existing lots.
The recommended lot placement completely ignores valid legal mineral claims in the area. Lastly, there was no research done to evaluate current actual use. We have no idea how many people use the Vee Lake landing boat launch on a beautiful summer day. We have no idea how many snowmobilers use the area on a lovely winter day like today, yet we will be packing all of these new leases and day-use lots into one small area, the only easily accessible recreation area for Yellowknifers. The current lease owners are understandably concerned, and those looking to lease are still frustrated.
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted
MACA’s discussion paper refers to the carrying capacity of an area. That is the amount of use a lake or a landmass can sustain. It is one of the concepts used for the study recommendations. But how can MACA accept the consultant’s recommendations without any idea of current use without any baseline data to measure the impact the addition of the new lots will have on the area?
A second most alarming issue is the inability of MACA to monitor and control land use in the study area and enforcement of the leases that they will let. The department has neither the manpower nor the equipment to do a job that they will be saddled with. Without that capability, we will quickly return to the squatter situation we now have.
The work to date has been good work. I am not advocating that it be thrown out. What I am proposing is that further work is needed, especially on-the-ground consultation with current users. Without further consultation, this government will overpopulate one small lake and strain it and its environment to the point of no return. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Public consultation towards the recreational leasing policy framework has no sooner been launched than they’ve gone off the rails. Overwhelming feedback from First Nations, leaseholders and the public has demonstrated such basic flaws in MACA’s process and planning that we’re back at square one. How much more wise it would have been to start with consultations, especially given the dearth of MACA’s knowledge and capacity.
Incredibly, the rights of First Nations have not been taken into account. MACA failed to provide the consultation documents directly to the Yellowknives Dene when the process was launched and the Minister should have consulted with the YKDFN before the public discussions began. The result: The YKDFN has called for no new leases until completion of the Akaitcho process.
MACA recommendations are based on inadequate and verified research. The 35 new leases proposed includes a 300 percent increase on one lake alone and is based on an office exercise without site visits to verify suitability. Worst of all, no effort was made to tap into the intimate knowledge of local leaseholders. Recommendations failed to acknowledge that an explosion of Walsh Lake leases will swamp the already inadequate facilities at the Vee Lake landing. There is no recommendation or cash to provide landing infrastructure to accommodate a doubled or tripled parking and docking demand.
Most fundamental is the illusion of land management supposed by the recommendations. MACA has a responsibility for managing lands but no familiarity with the land. MACA has responsibility for regulating land use but admits to having essentially no capacity for enforcing the regulations.
What does this mean for the future? This consultation is intended to result in a policy for the whole NWT. The fundamental clause of this effort gives little confidence in a result that will meet our land management needs throughout the NWT. Possibly most chilling is a commentary this makes on our prospects for devolution of land management. The federal government is doing nothing to control squatting on federal Crown land, devotes no resources and tolerates a squatting free-for-all. This is the resourcing and good stewardship we propose to take down in a devolution deal?
We need to take the time to do this right and start over. I’ll be asking the Minister questions on how he proposes to turn this work around.
