Aboriginal self-determination and resource development activity - Environmental and Human Security in the Arctic - page 193

would lead to de facto constitutional protection for self-government. While
a clause allowing for the opportunity to explore a public government was
inserted into the final agreement, this option was never explored until much
later in 1992, when the Gwich'in of the region entered into their own land
claims negotiations. During this process the Inuvialuit saw an opportunity to
work together in concert with the Gwich'in to establish a public government
for their citizens. While the idea initially appealed to the Gwich'in (the two
groups signed an Agreement-In-Principle (AIP) with the federal government
in 2003), eventually the Gwich'in withdrew to pursue their own self-govern-
ment agreement.
With a framework in place, however, the Inuvialuit persisted and con-
verted the combined AIP into a more Inuvialuit-specific self-government
agreement. The original goal of the agreement remained to provide a pub-
lic-type government for the Inuvialuit people that would essentially set up
an autonomous region where the public government would serve everyone
in the communities and the region, and where the Inuvialuit would com-
prise the majority of the population. However, given the many Aboriginal
groups that live in the NWT, and taking into account the number of
Gwich'in sharing Inuvialuit communities (including Aklavik and Inuvik),
the Inuvialuit are on a new path to creating a more Aboriginal-specific gov-
ernment that would only serve the Inuvialuit community. As an Inuvialuit
Self-Government Representative suggested in an interview on 28 September
2007, there are greater limitations placed on a government like that. For
instance, a public-style government would require a pooling of resources and
produce economies of scale, but the further you reduce the government, the
more you break apart the available funds and the less the government is able
to do. Since 2003, the Tli Cho government has provided community services
and operationalized self-government. Indeed, securing sustainable and long-
term development is a real key to self-government, as it is critical to creating
programmes that can serve the Inuvialuit community better.
Despite the absence of self-government, the Inuvialuit have been very
successful in generating economic opportunities for its members within the
region. They have, to date, focused on business and the generation of wealth.
Building on the potential of the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline project, in the
context of a massive natural resource extraction proposal and pipeline pro-
ject, the Inuvialuit have proven to be very aggressive, using the provisions
of the land claims agreement to pursue new avenues for development, and
demonstrated their ability to generate profit from those pursuits. One of
the main intentions of the Inuvialuit land claims process was to provide for
economic development opportunities as well as resource management. The
consequence was that the Inuvialuit focused on establishing a stable, long-
term economic base that would enable them to contribute to the regional and
national economy. To achieve this goal they chose to invest in regional ser-
vices to generate economic growth. There is no doubt that the IFA provided