Indigenous Peoples Consultations and Engagement

The Northern Pipeline Agency (Agency) is the lead for all federal consultations with Indigenous peoples on matters of interest and concern related to the Alaska Highway Gas Pipeline (AHGP). Consultation and accommodation is carried out in a manner that seeks to balance Indigenous interests with other societal interests, relationships and positive outcomes for all Canadians.

Consulting is an important part of good governance, sound policy development and decision-making. In addition to good governance objectives, the Agency has statutory and common law obligations to consult with Indigenous people when it contemplates conduct that might adversely impact Indigenous rights (established or potential). The Agency is guided in its work by the 2011 Guidelines for Federal Officials to Fulfill the Duty to Consult (2011).

The Northern Pipeline Act provides explicitly for the consideration of Indigenous interests and was enacted at a time before the evolution of modern consultation duties as now set out in law and policy. The relationships established between the Agency and Indigenous groups in the 1970s are being reinvigorated today in a modern context.

The Agency has engaged and consulted with Indigenous groups along the pipeline route in Yukon and northern B.C. In late 2011, the Agency collaborated with the Government of the Yukon, TransCanada and the Alaska Highway Indigenous Pipeline Coalition to offer workshops on training and business opportunities as well as on the regulatory framework, followed by a Round Table on the regulatory framework in January 2012. The Agency has been engaging with Indigenous communities in order to build respectful relationships so that we can work together in the coming months and years. Indigenous input into the environmental and socio-economic aspects of the AHGP – should it proceed - is invaluable, and the project presents significant economic opportunities for northern Indigenous communities in Yukon and British Columbia.

The First Nations and Métis groups who have been engaged recently by the Agency include: