Backgrounder
Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk Highway Project

The Project

The Hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk, the Town of Inuvik, and the Government of the Northwest Territories Department of Transportation, are proposing to build, operate and maintain a 140-kilometre all-weather highway from the Town of Inuvik to the Hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk.

This project will be located within the Inuvialuit Settlement Region. Approximately half of the route will be located on Inuvialuit private lands which are regulated and administered by the Inuvialuit Land Administration. The remainder of the highway will be located on Crown lands regulated and administered by Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada.

The Government of Canada has set aside $200 million over five years to support the construction of the Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk highway, noting that it would be completed in partnership with the Government of the Northwest Territories, the private sector, Inuvialuit Regional Corporation and local communities.

The Review Process

The Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk Highway project has undergone a thorough environmental assessment review process. The federal review panel process was substituted by the Environmental Impact Review Board (EIRB) process, in accordance with the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act S.C. 1992 c. 37.

On March 2, 2011, the substituted process was established through an "Agreement to Establish a Substituted Panel for the Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk Highway Project" between the Minister of Environment and the Chair of the EIRB.

A five-member Review Panel was subsequently appointed by the EIRB and received information from registered parties, community representatives, elders, and members of the public. The Review Panel considered the input received through written submissions and the public hearings and prepared the Substituted Review Panel Report (Panel Report).

The Panel Report concluded that the project should proceed, subject to the commitments made by the Hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk, the Town of Inuvik, and the Government of the Northwest Territories Department of Transportation and the recommendations made by the Panel. The Panel further concludes that the Project can be constructed, operated and maintained without significant impacts on the environment and the wildlife resources of the Inuvialuit Settlement Region.

In making its decision, the Government of Canada took into consideration the conclusions of the report of the Substituted Review Panel, and agreed with the Panel's conclusions about the environmental impacts of the project.

Further details and environmental assessment documents are available from the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency Registry and the Environmental Impact Review Board website.

Document Reference Number: 14

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