Читать книгу A Richard Rohmer Omnibus - Richard Rohmer - Страница 40

Ottawa / 8:59 a.m., EDT

The Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, Pierre Allard from Northern Manitoba, a tall, thin man with a long, sharp-featured face and grey-streaked straight hair, strode briskly to the lectern. On his way, he set his tray of slides on the projector and switched immediately to a map of Canada on which had been outlined the Mackenzie Valley Corridor.

Obviously not a man to waste time, he began as soon as he reached the microphone. “Like the minister who preceded me, I have not held this portfolio very long — only about seven weeks — but I feel confident that the background knowledge I acquired before taking office, added to what I have learned since, will enable me to make clear the situation as it exists in the Mackenzie Valley Corridor, particularly as it relates to the rights of the native people.

“The Mackenzie River, as you can see from the map, flows north from Great Slave Lake to the Mackenzie Delta, where it spreads and enters the Arctic Ocean. The wide river valley, called the Corridor, is a relatively habitable area as opposed to the barren Arctic tundra. That is because the river itself softens the climate, permitting trees to grow and providing food and shelter for men and animals. For centuries, Indians have lived in the treed area and Eskimos in the tundra at the north end of the river and to the east toward Hudson Bay. In ancient times, the Indian and Eskimo were mortal enemies. There were many bloody battles waged between the two races.

“The Mackenzie River has been the prime route into the Western Arctic since its discovery by Alexander Mackenzie in 1789. In the early days, canoes carried trading goods and furs along its waters. In modern times, barges transport products north to Norman Wells and Tuktoyaktuk. Recently the aircraft has begun to play a major role in the Corridor as well as throughout the entire Arctic. During the 1960’s and into the 70’s, Pacific Western, a regional air carrier was securely established, running from Edmonton to Yellowknife and Inuvik. And Inuvik, a relatively new town situated to the east of Aklavik in the Mackenzie Delta, is now the regional centre for that entire area.

“After 1968, when the Prudhoe Bay discovery was announced, the pace of exploration in the Mackenzie Delta region quickened. Then, with the first discovery of oil at Atkinson Point on the Tuktoyaktuk Peninsula in January 1970, the importance of the area as a source of hydrocarbons, both gas and oil, was firmly established, and drilling rigs really began to get to work. By the winter of 1972, there were thirteen rigs in operation in the Delta. Major finds had been made on Richards Island as well as on the Tuktoyaktuk Peninsula, and natural gas was being found in increasing amounts. By 1974 there were sufficient reserves to meet the minimum requirements for the creation of a pipeline from the Mackenzie Delta to the American market even without the Prudhoe Bay flow.