Aboriginal self-determination and resource development activity - Environmental and Human Security in the Arctic - page 200

just for the land it provides as a basis for governance but also for the com-
munity and social well-being that can be constructed. In order to improve
Aboriginal well-being, a community has to have more than just jobs and job
security. Governance enhances the authority and position of an Aboriginal
community and gives them the power to make decisions affecting their own
security. The Yukon land claims agreement is also accompanied by a self-
government agreement that gives the VGFN the right to enact legislation in
a number of areas.
Given the recent resurgence in oil and gas exploration in the Canadian
Arctic, does self-government improve human security? The utility of link-
ing human security to self-government is clear. Security is more than the
absence of war or military threats. Like self-government, security includes
non-military threats arising from socio-economic inequalities, environmental
degradation and a lack of social justice. It is about environmental protec-
tion and decision-making power. Indeed, this approach is not necessarily
new. Deiter and Rude suggest it is 'echoed in the analysis of women's groups
around the globe that have called for redefining security in terms of human
and environmental needs instead of national sovereignty' (2005:4). Like the
women's groups Deiter and Rude (2005) identify, Aboriginal peoples cannot
be secure until their economic and social, personal and community needs as
human beings are fulfilled and they are full and equal participants in political
institutions. The study of self-government thus lends a practical dimension
to the study of human security as well, and provides a lens through which we
can unravel the relationship between self-government and the development
of oil and gas in the Arctic. While the language of human security per se is
not something one would find or discuss within Aboriginal communities,
the ideas inherent to human security - of protecting a way of life, promoting
governance and building economies - are everywhere. Like self-government,
human security is a vague, often an undefined, concept that is best understood
in terms of its principles and explained through examples.
When asking the specific question 'Does self-government improve the
human security of Aboriginal peoples living across Canada's Arctic?', the
answer is a resounding yes. Looking at the question from the community per-
spectives of Old Crow (Yukon) and Tuktoyaktuk (NWT), it is apparent that
when land claims are settled without self-government then there is a trans-
formation of economic opportunities but there is not necessarily any change
in the ability of communities to make important political decisions or chart a
specific political course. In contrast, with the concurrent negotiation of land
claims and self-government, Aboriginal groups are not only given control over
land development, but also important powers to regulate and legislate, which
provides them with a voice in development as well as the ability to control it.
Thus, not only do land claims promise to transform the economic condition
of Aboriginal peoples but they can also increase security by returning political
power to the communities. While it might be that self-government improves