The berger inquiry: an impact assessment process

Abstract

The Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry, conducted by the Honorable Mr. Justice T. R. Berger, undertook to explore thoroughly the issues surrounding the building of a northern pipeline. In doing so, the Inquiry provided a forum for the interplay of the technical and environmental issues with very personalized social and cultural concerns. As a process, it reached out beyond the direct participants: it became one in which all Canadians, north and south, participated. It touched some of Canada's deepest concerns-concerns about energy policy, resource allocation, the price and priority of industrial development, cultural sovereignty, and self-definition. These have become national concerns, not just regional. And so, no matter what the final decision is about the pipeline, the Inquiry will have a profound and lasting national influence.