The Review Board and Land and Water Boards are updating the Guidelines for Incorporating Traditional Knowledge in Environmental Impact Assessment
About the Guidelines
The Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board and the Land and Boards of the Mackenzie Valley (the Boards) were established by the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act (MVRMA). The MVRMA provides for an integrated system of land water management in the Mackenzie Valley as required by land claims. In carrying out our respective roles, the Boards must consider both scientific information and Traditional Knowledge. The Guidelines for Incorporating Traditional Knowledge in Environmental Impact Assessment (Guidelines) were developed by the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board in 2005 and adopted by the Land and Water Boards in 2021. The Boards are working together to update these Guidelines
In 2005, when the Review Board developed the Guidelines we realized that meaningful and respectful inclusion of Traditional Knowledge in impact assessment could strengthen project design, impact prediction, and mitigation planning. The Guideline was written to address uncertainty about how Traditional Knowledge should be incorporated into environmental impact assessment processes, concerns from Indigenous communities about the potential misuse or misinterpretation of their knowledge, and lack of understanding by developers about community protocols and expectations.
Although the Guidelines were groundbreaking when released in 2005, the context in which it operates has changed significantly. Environmental assessment practice, Indigenous governance of knowledge systems, terminology, data management, and relevant legislation have all evolved over the past two decades. Updates are therefore needed to ensure the Guidelines remain culturally grounded, practical, enforceable, and aligned with current expectations and realities for Indigenous Governments, communities and Traditional Knowledge holders.
Understanding our update process
As required by the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act, we will consult with communities across the Mackenzie Valley for these updates. We will share opportunities for input, discussion, and review throughout the process.
Traditional Knowledge is an essential part of understanding and mitigating impacts of development. We want to make sure we do these updates collaboratively, to represent what's important to the communities of the Mackenzie Valley.
What we have done so far
Notification
The Review Board sent out a Notice of Process and notified our consultation partners about these ongoing updates and upcoming engagement plans in February 2026. Please see the "Get involved" section below if you want to learn more.
Current steps
Project page: you are on our newly published project page! Share or bookmark our page so you see updates.
Discussion Paper: this paper is shared to help with understanding the context of the update.
Survey: this is the first step of engagement to assist in determining the scope, priorities and the process for the update. Please share your input: deadline August 6th, 2026
Next steps
Sharing a "What we heard" summary report from the Guidelines review survey
