While the Mackenzie Gas Project struggles to make land access and benefits agreements with aboriginal centers along its pipeline route, regulators are doing their bit to prevent further delays by preventing the native relations sore spot from spreading.

New rulings by both the National Energy Board (NEB) and the arctic development proposal’s environmental Joint Review Panel (JRP) put a stop to attempts by Alberta aboriginal groups to jump into the compensation negotiating lineup.

In the NEB case, the decision rejected an attempt by Duncan’s First Nation in northern Alberta to break into the northern pipeline review months after the deadline for interventions. Besides pointing out that the written stage of forthcoming pipeline hearings is largely over, the board found that even the most generously understood “traditional land use area” of Duncan’s lies outside territory that can reasonably be regarded as affected by the project.

The natives said they appealed for attention from the NEB because the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board (AEUB) and the province’s energy department are ignoring them. The AEUB is awaiting an application from TransCanada PipeLines to build the last 60 miles of the Mackenzie project between its system and the provincial boundary with the Northwest Territories. The NEB’s new ruling affirmed previous decisions to maintain divided jurisdiction over the arctic gas connection and refrain from attempting a federal takeover liable to cause prolonged conflict with Alberta, which zealously defends its authority over resource development within its boundaries.

In the JRP case, the co-operating federal, territorial and aboriginal agencies turned down a series of demands made in the guise of information requests by Dene Tha’ First Nation in northwestern Alberta.

While the southern-most TransCanada leg in the proposed arctic gas line is expected to bisect territory claimed by the Dene Tha’, the review panel echoed the NEB in refusing to try and extend federal jurisdiction into Alberta. As a result, the natives were told to settle for assurances that any environmental conditions attached to the northern gas project will be communicated to Alberta for provincial authorities to consider. Demands for guarantees of federal enforcement within Alberta were turned down.

Attempts to turn the gas regulatory process into an enforcer of native land claims were also rebuffed. The JRP said it has “no jurisdiction or mandate to determine the nature and extent of aboriginal or treaty rights.”

In addition, the environmental panel ruled it “does not have the jurisdiction or mandate to determine the adequacy between the Crown (federal government) and First Nations in relation to First Nations rights.” The JRP vowed to stick to factual inquiries into measurable effects of industry on established, known aboriginal territory.

Practical definitions of consultation with natives as required in principle by Canadian law — and to what degree the requirement approaches obtaining natives’ consent or bestowing voting or veto powers on them — are hotly contested matters. Recent Supreme Court of Canada rulings explicitly denied aboriginal communities a veto on industrial projects affecting traditional lands, but native leaders are far from giving up on pressing for increased power.

The northern gas case has become a proving ground for aboriginal claims. The project consortium and the regulatory agencies alike are attempting to keep reviews of the gas project focused and free of distractions by bigger political issues including general land claims negotiations. The JRP repeated intentions to stick to the practical issues at hand, saying it “is aware there is a complex array of negotiations taking place throughout the Mackenzie Valley. To the extent they are not settled, these negotiations do not affect the JRP process or the ability of the Dene Tha’ to participate.”

But the aboriginal communities show signs of trying harder than ever to make the northern gas project a tool for prying land and compensation out of the federal and provincial governments. The spreading mood of militancy showed at an Alberta aboriginal leaders assembly, held to prepare for an annual summit meeting between native communities across Canada and the country’s “first ministers” — all the provincial and territorial premiers plus the federal prime minister.

Alberta chiefs, describing the occasion as historic, said aboriginal communities recognized by treaties aim to press for much bigger shares of natural resource revenues because the underground gas, oil and minerals were not surrendered along with the land surface. “Our ancestors said we will share our land with the newcomers — we did not give up our natural resources,” a senior chief declared.

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