Land use permits and water licences: improving enforcement of terms and conditions in the NWT

Regulation and enforcement of land and water use in Canada’s north is an important policy issue and an integral component of environmental protection in Canada’s northern territories. This study examines the inspection, enforcement and compliance gaps that exist in the Northwest Territories (NWT). Specifically, the fact that very few inspections are carried out in the NWT is the policy problem at stake in this study. In order to better understand the problem, a multiple case study approach is used and three regions of the north, including the Yukon, the Inuvialuit Settlement Region and Nunavut, are examined. This study, while focusing on literature and publicly available reports, correspondence and other documents, also enlists an interview approach to identify key problems that exist in the north relating to inspections, enforcement and compliance. Policy options are provided and a final recommendation to combine “follow-up” programs with inspections is the concluding finding of this study.