Policy and decision-making in the North : the case of Lancaster Sound ...

• Main Author: Davidson, Margaret Anne
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2010
• Subjects: Arctic; inuit; Lancaster Sound; Northwest passage
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0095085; https://doi.library.ubc.ca/10.14288/1.0095085

This thesis examines federal government decision-making in the North using the decision process regarding a proposal by Norlands Petroleum Ltd. to drill an exploratory well in Lancaster Sound as a case study. Lancaster Sound is the eastern "throat" of the Northwest Passage, and an area of great potential resource-use conflict. The Sound can be likened to an oasis in the Arctic "desert" because of the variety and abundance of wildlife it supports. The traditional way of life of Inuit people in the region is tied to these wildlife resources. However, in recent years promising geologic structures which may contain recoverable oil have been identified under the Sound. Accordingly, the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (DIAND) issued an Approval-in-Principle for an exploratory drilling proposal by Norlands Petroleum Ltd. in 1974. Norlands' proposal is one of several projects comprising the new and potentially hazardous programme to drill for oil and gas offshore in the Canadian Arctic. As ...