Inuvialuit get reprieve from Senate

An aboriginal group from Canada’s Northwest Territories is continuing its efforts to amend the boundaries of a proposed park covering a portion of their territory believed to be prospective for nickel deposits.

The native group has formed a partnership with Darnley Bay Resources (DBL-V) to explore for nickel on ground covering one of North America’s largest untested geophysical anomalies. Darnley Bay’s efforts are also backed by Falconbridge (FL-T), which holds an option to earn a stake in the project near the northern community of Paulatuk.

Deaf to the pleas of the impoverished native group, Parks Canada and various environmental groups have urged the government of Canada not to redraw the boundaries of the proposed Tuktut Nogait National park.

The Inuvialuit say they are seeking only a minor adjustment — 2.5% of the proposed park’s land mass — and have already given up 29% of their territory to three separate parks. They also refute allegations from environmentalists that exploration activities would put caribou herds at risk.

Liberal Senator Jack Adams has backed the Inuvialuit’s efforts, saying the request is a modest one, and that the government should consider the economic needs of the aboriginal group, which suffers from an 80% unemployment rate.

A Senate committe ruled against the native group in early December. However the decision has since been deferred, and is now before the Senate’s Aborginal Committee for a review, a reprieve that has heartened the Inuvialuit.