Pehdzéh Kı̨ gets confidentiality on Mackenzie Valley Highway submissions

The Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board has ruled Pehdzéh Kı̨ First Nation (PKFN) can submit confidential traditional land use information to explain why it wants part of the proposed Mackenzie Valley Highway rerouted.

"The information described by PKFN will be useful for predicting and determining the significance of impacts of the Mackenzie Valley Highway project," said board chair JoAnne Deneron in an April 10 letter to PKFN Chief Jamie Moses.

The environmental assessment will produce a public plain language summary without confidential information. There will be a process for parties to the environmental assessment to access the confidential information, said Deneron.

According to review board documents, a notice of whether there is adequate information to proceed to the public hearing phase will be released around April 21. 

The territorial government will get a two-month extension to submit its developer's assessment report, which would extend that process until June, review board documents state. 

The territorial government said it needed time to fully consider a proposed realignment outlined in a March 4 report by Pehdzéh Kí First Nation. 

That report by Maskwa Engineering identifies an alternate route with "higher embankment stability, ease of accessing construction material, less impact to traditional lands and lower risk of sediment and erosion concerns."

The alternate route would avoid permafrost, reduce environmental impacts, avoid traditional land use areas, reduce erosion risk and allow for drainage, the report states.

During an April 10 Cabin Radio election forum attended by NDP candidate Kelvin Kotchilea and Liberal candidate Rebecca Alty, both spoke on the highway.

Liberal candidate Rebecca Alty said she would work with the territorial governments to secure federal funding for the Mackenzie Valley Highway. 

Kotchilea said the NDP's next big push is the Mackenzie Valley Highway, which he said is more urgent following the barge cancellations in 2023 and 2024 and last summer's wildfire evacuation in Fort Good Hope, which had only air travel or the river as options for evacuation. 

Green Party candidate Rainbow Eyes was not in attendance — she was just released on bail from the Alouette Correctional Centre for Women over her involvement in the Fairy Creek blockade in 2021 and 2022. 

Conservative candidate Kimberly Fairman declined to attend that April 10 forum.