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The Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry was commissioned by the Government of Canada in 1974 to investigate the social, environmental, and economic impact regionally of a proposed oil pipeline that would run through the Yukon and the Mackenzie Valley of the Northwest Territories. This proposed pipeline became known as the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline.
The commissioner of the inquiry was Justice Thomas Berger. Justice Berger heard testimony from diverse groups with an interest in the pipeline. The inquiry was notable for the voice it gave to the First Peoples whose traditional territory the pipeline would traverse.
Berger traveled extensively in western Arctic in preparation for the hearings. In his travels he met with the Dene, Inuit, Métis and white residents of the North. He held formal hearings in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories to get the views of experts about the proposal. Following this, he held community hearings, in various venues, and this played an important role in shaping his views.
Berger's report was released in May, 1977. Titled Northern Frontier, Northern Homeland, the report highlighted the fact that while the Mackenzie Valley could be the conduit for the "biggest project in the history of free enterprise," it was also home to many peoples whose lives would be immeasurably changed by the pipeline. Berger cautioned that a gas pipeline would be a precursor to an oil pipeline. The "energy corridor" thus created would require an immense infrastructure of roads, airports, maintenance bases and new settlements to support it. The impact on the ecosystem (both the natural habitat and its people) would be equivalent to building a railway across Canada. Justice Berger counseled a ten-year moratorium to deal with critical issues—such as settling Aboriginal land claims and setting aside key conservation areas—before attempting to build the proposed pipeline.
External links
"Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry"