THE IMPACT OF DEVOLUTION ON THE REGULATORY REGIME OF THE INUVIALUIT SETTLEMENT REGION

• Main Author: Higham, Stephen
• Other Authors: Poelzer, Greg M., Noble, Bram F., Berdahl, Loleen, Aitken, Alec, Michelmann, Hans J., Wilson, Gary N.
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2012
• Subjects: Devolution; Inuvialuit Settlement Region; Northwest Territories; oil and gas; resource development; environmental assessment; Beaufort Sea; Mackenzie Delta; Inuvialuit
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10388/ETD-2012-05-408

In the Beaufort Sea/Mackenzie Delta region of the Northwest Territories, devolution has reconfigured institutional arrangements responsible for managing oil and gas development. Today, a diversity of perspectives exist regarding constraints to oil and gas development within the regulatory regime that has emerged from the process of devolution. This thesis identifies the strengths and limitations of the regulatory regime that has emerged from the process of devolution, as well as where perceived problems and challenges may have been exaggerated. In such cases, first impressions as opposed to actual experience with the regulatory system, as well as confusion stemming from the existence of two separate regulatory regimes in the NWT contribute to negative perceptions of the regime.