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A shaky start for Berger hearings
Broadcast Date: March 9, 1975
It's day one of the Berger Inquiry hearings and already all hell is breaking loose. No sooner have the opening remarks been made in Yellowknife than there are accusations of interference by the federal government. Worse, some believe that the hearings are a waste of time. Construction of an American pipeline could render the whole issue irrelevant, and there are rumours that work on a Mackenzie Valley pipeline may begin before the hearings even conclude!A shaky start for Berger hearings
• Tension between natives and whites became apparent in the initial Yellowknife hearings. Fred Andrew, a Slavey native from Fort Norman, cut some of the tension by telling the inquiry that he once had to pay 10 cents to use a toilet in the South, but now southerners are coming north to "make" all over his home without paying anything to anyone.• The Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry began with "overview hearings" where experts testified about a pipeline's potential impact on the permafrost and the Arctic's flora and fauna. Much of this discussion was very technical, and difficult to translate into native languages.
A shaky start for Berger hearings
Medium: Radio
Program: Sunday Magazine
Broadcast Date: March 9, 1975
Guest(s): Russell Anthony, Thomas Berger
Host: Bob Oxley, George Rich
Reporter: Whit Fraser, Ken McCreath
Duration: 5:50
Last updated:
Feb. 27, 2005
Radio
10:06
Objectors tear into pipeline proposals at a public debate in Toronto.
Television
2:48
Two companies propose different pipelines down the Mackenzie Valley.
A shaky start for Berger hearings.
The CBC Digital Archives Website.
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Last updated: Feb. 27, 2005.
[Page consulted on Feb. 12, 2012.]