Aboriginal self-determination and resource development activity - Environmental and Human Security in the Arctic - page 192

again and Aboriginal peoples are engaging in self-government, either in prac-
tice or in negotiation. To wit, while the Inuvialuit have historically focused
on economic development, their 'corporate' governance model renewed steps
towards a form of self-government that suggest it is an important next step
in the process of self-determination. The experience of the Inuvialuit, when
highlighted against that of the Vuntut Gwitchin of Old Crow, suggests that
self-government is moving in the right direction. To begin, this chapter
explores the case of the Inuvialuit and then turns to a discussion of the VGFN.
Self-determination and resource development:
increasing human security?
Inuvialuit
In June 1984, the Inuvialuit, a group of 3,500 Inuit people living at the
top of the NWT, signed the first comprehensive land claim in the region.
The deal awarded them 91,000sq. kilometres in land and CAD$152 million
dollars in cash compensation (a tax-free payment paid over a period of thir-
teen years, accompanied by a one-time payment of CAD$10 million for an
economic enhancement fund and CAD$7.5 million for a social development
fund). This includes 13,000sq. kilometres of land to which they also own sub-
surface (mineral) rights. The agreement also provides the Inuvialuit with a say
in wildlife and environmental management through participation on a variety
of co-management boards and councils (e.g. Notzke 1994; White 2002). As
Notzke explains, the introduction of the co-management regime under the
Inuvialuit Final Agreement (IFA) extended their influence over development
and resource management occurring in the region (1994:302). Notzke (1994)
goes so far as to suggest that the co-management regime established under the
IFA refers to the sharing of power and responsibility between government and
local resource users, and to various levels of integration of local and state level
management systems. While participation agreements certainly provide 'con-
siderable latitude for conveying socio-economic benefits on the Inuvialuit' and
even though the Inuvialuit exercise a lot of power and autonomy in terms of
possessing the ability to unilaterally amend rules and procedures with respect
to their land and its usage, the scope of power assigned by the land claim
ultimately remains limited to land and tied to economic or environmental
decisions made by the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation or one of its affiliates
(e.g. Inuvialuit Development Corporation or Inuvialuit Land Corporation)
(Notzke 1994:221).
At the time of negotiation, the Inuvialuit did not enter into self-govern-
ment negotiations because the federal comprehensive claims policy did not
allow for self-government negotiations to occur at the same time as land
claims negotiations. The government, at that time, was not prepared to nego-
tiate self-government concurrently with land claims because it feared that this