Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board

Note to readers:

Update pending.

1. General Information

Background

The Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board (MVLWB or the Board) was proclaimed on December 22, 1998, with the exception of Part 4. Part 4 was proclaimed on March 31, 2000. The Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act (MVRMA) empowers the Board to regulate the use of land and water and the deposition of waste by issuing, amending, renewing, and suspending land use permits and water licences in areas of the Mackenzie Valley outside settled land claim areas; to deal with transboundary applications for land use permits or water licenses, and to ensure a consistent application of the MVRMA within the Mackenzie Valley. This authority extends to all Crown and private lands and all waters. The MVRMA prescribes the Mackenzie Valley Land Use Regulations and the Northwest Territories Water Act/Regulations as the principal regulatory instruments for the Board to utilize. The MVLWB reports to Parliament through the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada.

The MVLWB is a regulatory authority that has its origins in the land claim process in the Mackenzie Valley of the Northwest Territories and the MVRMA. The Mackenzie Valley is defined by the area bounded in the north by the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, the east by Nunavut, in the west by the Yukon, and in the south by the NWT border, excluding Wood Buffalo National Park.

Responsibilities

The MVLWB is responsible for conducting preliminary screenings of proposed developments and for regulating the use of land and waters in the Deh Cho and South Slave regions (unsettled claims areas), as well as any development that may have impacts on more than one settlement region. The authority of this co-management board extends to all Crown and private lands and waters in the Mackenzie Valley. In the Sahtu, Gwich'in and Wek'èezhìi (settled claim areas), Regional Land and Water Boards have been established. The MVLWB monitors and ensures consistent application of the MVRMA between all Regional Land and Water Boards in the Mackenzie Valley.

The MVLWB has three main functions: to process transboundary land use and water use applications in the Mackenzie Valley, to issue land use permits and water licences outside settled land claim areas in the Mackenzie Valley, and to issue directions on general policy matters or on matters concerning the use of land and water or the deposit of waste that require consistent application throughout the Mackenzie Valley. Waste is any substance that, if added to water, would noticeably degrade the quality of the water.

2. Institutional Functions, Programs and Activities

Internal Services

Internal Services are groups of related activities and resources that are administered to support the needs of programs and other corporate obligations of an organization. These groups are: Management and Oversight Services; Communications Services; Legal Services; Human Resources Management Services; Financial Management Services; Information Management Services; Information Technology Services; Real Property Services; Materiel Services; Acquisition Services; and Travel and Other Administrative Services. Internal Services include only those activities and resources that apply across an organization and not to those provided specifically to a program.

Financial Management

Financial Management Services involve activities undertaken to ensure the prudent use of public resources, including planning, budgeting, accounting, reporting, control and oversight, analysis, decision support and advice, and financial systems.

• Financial Management

Human Resources Management

Human Resources Management Services involve activities undertaken for determining strategic direction, allocating resources among services and processes, as well as activities relating to analyzing exposure to risk and determining appropriate countermeasures. They ensure that the service operations and programs of the federal government comply with applicable laws, regulations, policies, and/or plans.

• Classification of Positions
  • Staffing
• Compensation and Benefits
  • Attendance and Leave
  • Pay and Benefits
• Performance Management Reviews (COR)
  • Performance Management Reviews (PIB)
• Recruitment and Staffing
  • Employee Personnel Record
  • Personnel Security Screening
  • Staffing
  • Values and Ethics Code for the Public Service
• Relocation (COR)
  • Relocation (PIB)
• Training and Development (COR)
  • Training and Development (PIB)

Information Technology

Information Technology Services involve activities undertaken to achieve efficient and effective use of information technology to support government priorities and program delivery, to increase productivity, and to enhance services to the public.

• Information Technology
  • Electronic Network Monitoring

Legal Services

Legal services involve activities undertaken to enable government departments and agencies to pursue policy, program and service delivery priorities and objectives within a legally sound framework.

• Legal Services

Management And Oversight Services

Management and Oversight Services involve activities undertaken for determining strategic direction, and allocating resources among services and processes, as well as those activities related to analyzing exposure to risk and determining appropriate countermeasures. They ensure that the service operations and programs of the federal government comply with applicable laws, regulations, policies, and/or plans.

• Executive Services

Materiel

Materiel Services involve activities undertaken to ensure that materiel can be managed by departments in a sustainable and financially responsible manner that supports the cost-effective and efficient delivery of government programs.

• Materiel Management

Travel And Other Administrative Services

Travel and Other Administrative Services include Government of Canada (GC) travel services, as well as those other internal services that do not smoothly fit with any of the internal services categories.

• Access to Information and Privacy (COR)
  • Access to Information and Privacy (PIB)
• Security
  • Identification and Building-Pass Cards
  • Internal Disclosure of Wrongdoing in the Workplace
  • Personnel Security Screening
• Travel (COR)
  • Travel (PIB)

The Issuance of Land Use Permits

The MVLWB is responsible for issuing land use permits (LUPs) in parts of the Mackenzie Valley in which land claims have not been settled and for developments whose impacts cross jurisdictional boundaries.

The Issuance of Water Licences

The MVLWB is responsible for issuing water licences (WLs) in parts of the Mackenzie Valley in which land claims have not been settled and for developments whose impacts cross jurisdictional boundaries.

Manuals

• Changes to Land use Permits: Guide to Amendments, Assignments, Discontinuances, Extensions and Storage Authorizations
• Guide to Completing an Application to Assign a Land Use Permit
• Guide to Completing an Application to Assign a Water Licence
• Guide to Land Use Applications to the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board
• Guide to the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board
• Guide to Water Use Applications to the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board
• Public Involvement Guidelines for Permit and Licence Applicants to the Mackenzie Valley and Water Board
• Water and Effluent Quality Management Policy
• Guidelines for Developing a Waste Management Plan

3. Additional Information

Please see the Introduction to this publication for information on access procedures under the provisions of the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act.

For additional information about the programs and activities MVLWB, please contact:

Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board
4922 48th Street, 7th Floor
P.O. Box 2130
Yellowknife, Northwest Territories X1A 2P6

Telephone: 867-766-7467
Facsimile: 867-873-6610
E-mail: jchurcher@mvlwb.com
Website: www.mvlwb.com

Reading Room

In accordance with the Access to information Act, an area on the premises of this institution has been designated as a public reading room. The address is:

YK Centre
4922 48th Street, 7th Floor
Yellowknife, Northwest Territories
X1A 2P6