Changing Perceptions of Industrial Development in the North

This is a brief discussion of the issues at stake in the industrial development of the Mackenzie River region of Canada's North. In particular the essay focuses on the growing controversy surrounding a proposed natural gas pipeline from Alaska to Chicago via the Mackenzie and Northern Yukon. Native organizations in the Yukon and the Northwest Territories have begun to formulate their own policies toward industrial development—including pipelines—in their region. As might be expected, native views on the future of the North differ in important respects from policies formulated by the Canadian government or by international petroleum corporations. Recent court cases in the Northwest Territories and elsewhere will be examined in detail, with some consideration of their historical and social background, for evidence of changing native perceptions of northern development.