Federal government orders review of Nunavut land use planning

The Nunavut Planning Commission is coming under scrutiny with a government ordered review of its work.

That could mean further delays to the release of the long anticipated Nunavut Land Use Plan to determine what areas are open for development and what's protected.

The plan has been promised and then postponed several times.

The planning commissions executive director Sharon Ehaloak said a draft plan is ready, but it's now under third-party review. She said the federal government ordered the review, to look at what the Commission has done and how it's come up with this draft plan.

She said the commission welcomes the scrutiny.

"We do see it as a positive, for all parties to have a common understanding, and understand the authority of the commission under the land claims agreement," Ehaloak said.

The federal department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development hired a Yellowknife consultant to do the review and did so with the support of the territorial government and Nunavut Tunngavik, she said.Those agencies refused to talk about this review and why they felt it was necessary and what might come of it.

The planning commissioninsists it's draft land use plan will see the light of day later this year, once the review is done. Ehaloak says public consultations will begin this fall.