Northwest Territories • Protected Areas • Lands and Regulations • Issues & Advocacy
This data was accurate as of April 2008.
Land description:
The current area protected in the Northwest Territories is 21.66% or approximately 29.12 million hectares (2007).
The land and fresh water area of the Northwest Territories is 134,416,235 hectares with the land only area being
118,308,500 hectares. Approximately 100% of land in the Northwest Territories is Crown or public with very little
being private. There are four National Parks covering a total of 7.31 million hectares, and approximately 43
territorial parks and wildlife reserves covering 2.96 million ha.. Additionally, over 18.85 million hectares (16.5%)
of land have been proposed for withdrawal or withdrawn from industrial use under First Nations agreements, future
National Park areas and candidate protected areas. The Territory has 43 ecoregions as designated habitat types.
Brief History: (prior to initiation of land use plan and development)
In 1992, the Canadian Parks Ministers Council signed A Statement of Commitment to Complete Canada’s
Networks of Protected Areas, by the year 2000.
In 1994, the Whitehorse Mining Initiative was signed to provide a strategic vision for a healthy mining industry
in the context of maintaining healthy and diverse ecosystems in Canada. Among other things it called for
establishing an ecologically based system of protected areas. Representatives of five sectors agreed to participate.
They were the mining industry, senior governments, labour unions, Aboriginal peoples, and the environmental
community. A report from the Land Access Issue group was released in 1994.
In August 1996, during the final phases of the BHP diamond mine approvals, the Government of the Northwest
Territories (GNWT) and the federal Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (DIAND) committed to
develop a protected areas
strategy for the Northwest Territories in partnership with Aboriginal groups, environmental organizations, and other
interested parties.
In 1998, work began on development of the Northwest Territories Protected Areas Strategy (NWT-PAS) under
direction of an Advisory Committee. The Protected Areas Strategy – A Balanced Approach to Establishing
Protected Areas in the Northwest Territories was approved in September, 1999. The strategy does not
prescribe a target amount for protected area or a date for meeting the basic goals.
Process of Development/Consultation Type:
The development of the NWT-PAS was under direction of an Advisory Committee which consisted of one
representative from each of six native treaty areas, territorial and federal governments, industry and nongovernmental organizations.
The NWT-PAS is directed toward the achievement of two goals: 1) to protect special natural and cultural areas; and
2) to protect core representative areas within each ecoregion. There were approximately 8.5% or 29.2 million ha
protected before 1997 (this number included the Nunavut territory).
The approved NWT-PAS describes an eight step process that communities can use to plan and establish protected
areas and is intended to promote a balanced approach to land use decisions by incorporating traditional, ecological,
cultural, and economic knowledge.
PAS Implementation and Candidate PA selection process:
The PAS Secretariat, under the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development (RWED) with DIAND
support, is a point of contact for communities submitting proposals and coordinates the PAS process. The
implementation of the NWT-PAS has been underway for over three years, under the guidance of the PAS
Implementation Advisory Committee. The Committee consists of representatives from regional aboriginal and
environment non-government organizations, industry and the Government of the NWT.
The NWT has adopted the National Ecological Framework for Canada (1996) and the Soil Carbon Digital Database
(1996), a discrete layer of polygons within the Canadian Soil Information System (CanSIS), as the basis for
determining its landscape units. Planning areas area based on administrative districts and land claim regions.
A workshop on the principles of conservation biology and ecological resource management, including mineral
resource assessment, in October, 1999 brought together government agencies, mineral industry representatives,
land use planners and environmental non-government organizations, including the federal Department of Indian
Affairs and Northern Development (DIAND), the NWT Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic
Development (RWED), the Geological Survey of Canada, members of provincial geological survey groups, NWT
Chamber of Mines, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, and the World Wildlife Fund.
The job of planning protected areas lies primarily with communities, regional organizations and land claim
bodies. At all stages, stakeholders, appropriate government institutions and the RWED/DIAND coordinated PAS
Secretariat will provide assistance in planning protected areas. There are eight steps to be used to obtain protected
status for a selected area.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Identify priority areas of interest.
Prepare and review protected area proposal at regional level.
Review and submit proposal for candidate protected area status.
Consider/apply interim protection for candidate area.
Evaluate candidate area.
Seek formal establishment of protected area.
Approve and designate protected area.
Implement, monitor and review protected area.
In June 2001, the following documents were developed and adopted:
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
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The Guidelines for Interim Protection of Candidate Protected Areas. Interim protection on candidate
protected areas is a temporary measure applied to prevent the establishment of new third party interests
and to ensure that the area’s values are not jeopardized.
Guidelines for Non-renewable Resource Assessment.
Guidelines for Compensation of Third Party Interests defines context in which compensation may be
provided where their interests are incompatible with the values of a candidate protected area.
The time frame for protecting a site is unique to each area advanced under the strategy, and areas of interest
generally have no defined boundaries or restrictions on land access as a result of being identified. Only two areas
put forward for protection have reached the level where a five year limited, interim land withdrawal has been
placed on them.
Results:
Various communities and First Nations have identified or are working with Parks Canada and the Canadian Wildlife
Service to advance areas as candidate sites under the PAS.
A result of the mineral resource assessment workshop (October 1999) was the start of a compilation on high
priority (mineral) regions that have been identified as candidate protected areas. Proceeding from that, a
methodology for conducting resource assessments in the NWT in consultation with the end users - communities
and industry will be developed. This will lead to the development of descriptive and statistical ore deposit models.
In October 2002, under an agreement with the Deh Cho First Nation, a five year land withdrawal was implemented
for the Edehzhie candidate protected area (2.52 million ha). In April 2003, 7,071,800ha of subsurface lands were
withdrawn from mineral exploration to become part of a system of interconnected protected areas extending from
Wood Buffalo National Park to Nahanni National Park. There is also a draft agreement in place to triple the size of
Nahanni National Park (currently 482,400ha). Total proposed protected areas will be over 10 million hectares.
In 2004, the federal government announced the provision of $9 million over five years towards the Mackenzie
Valley Protected Area Action Plan. The amount will be matched by local governments and partners, and will
contribute to conservation planning in 16 ecoregions.
By 2006, the Gwichin, Dehcho and Akaitcho land use plans contributed to the withdrawal of 12.58 million ha of
land. Proposed National Parks added approximately 0.93 million ha, and PAS candidate protected areas created
3.077 million ha of interim withdrawals. The current total for existing legislated protected areas and withdrawn
lands is 33.53 million hectares or 24.9% of the territory.
First Nations Land Claim Settlements:
There are 6 Aboriginal treaty areas in the Northwest Territories (NWT) and 26 First Nation communities. Their
rights concerning the resources of the land, and their responsibilities for managing those resources, are being
constitutionally recognized through the settlement of land claims, the clarification of treaty rights, and the creation
of regionally based resource management bodies. Of the seven First Nations involved in land claims, two claims
have been accepted for negotiation. The PAS conforms to all land claims agreements. In the event of any
unforeseen conflicts between this Strategy and such agreements, the latter will take precedence over the Strategy.
The Gwich’in, Inuvialuit, and Sahtu have settled land claims and have their own land use boards. They have
participated in the NWT PAS and the Inuvialuit use it as a basis for their land use policies. The Inuvialuit
Settlement Region has six community based conservation plans.
The Smith’s Landing First Nation (centered in Alberta) has agreed to a treaty land settlement with most of the land
claim being in Alberta.
In August 2003, the Tli Cho Agreement was signed with the Dogrib First Nation for land claims covering
approximately 3.9 million hectares which include both the Ekati and Diavik diamond mines. The Tli Cho First
Nations support mineral exploration.
Other First Nation communities are in the process of identifying priority candidate areas under Step 1 of the PAS.
The Dhecho have virtually closed their region to mineral exploration with the non-issuance of prospecting and land
use permits.
The Lutselke have used the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board to bring a halt to exploration by referring
grass-roots mineral exploration programs to environmental assessment based on vague non-environmental
concerns.
Post-completion and On-Going issues:
Approval and legislation of areas proposed under the PAS.
Completion of the NWT Biodiversity Action Plan.
The regulatory process for the Northwest Territories has shown to be too slow due to ambiguous wording in the
environmental assessment act, and a complex and inefficient regulatory regime under the Mackenzie Valley Land
and Water Board.
Government Departments, Agencies and Legislation, for further information:
Environment and Natural Resources www.enr.gov.nt.ca/
(Protected Areas Strategy)
Territorial Parks Act (amendment 2003)
Wildlife Act (amendment 2001)
Industry, Tourism and Investment
(Territorial Parks, Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources)
www.iti.gov.nt.ca/
Mackenzie Valley Land Use Planning Board www.mvlwb.com
Gwich'in Land Use Planning Board www.gwichinplanning.nt.ca
Sahtu Land Use Planning Board www.sahtulanduseplan.org/
Sahtu Land and Water Board www.slwb.com/land.html
Inuvialuit Land Administration www.inuvialuitland.com/
Indian and Northern Affairs Canada www.ainc-inac.gc.ca/
Canada Mining Regulations 1999
Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act 1998
Environment Canada www.ec.gc.ca
Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency
Environmental Protection Act 1988
Parks Canada www.pc.gc.ca/
Canada National Parks Act 2000
Natural Resources www.nrcan.gc.ca/
Natural Resources Conservation Act 1999
Non-governmental organizations
NWT Recreation and Parks Association
New Parks North
Chamber of Mines
www.nwtrpa.org/
www.newparksnorth.org/
www.miningnorth.com/