Northern Landscapes

CHAPTER 4

CONGRESSIONAL RESPONSES

In August 1970, four months after Judge George Hart had enjoined the Interior Department from proceeding with the pipeline, two months after the native claims legislation had stalled in Congress, and three months prior to his dismissal, Secretary of the Interior Walter Hickel accompanied Jean Chrétien, the Canadian minister for Indian Affairs and Northern Development, on a tour of the North American Arctic. Hickel said he was “intrigued” by Canada’s Arctic developments and wanted a “first-hand view.” The two officials traveled more than 4,000 miles, starting at Baffin Island on the North Atlantic coast. “From there they puddlejumped across the great expanse of the near-vacant North. They toured mining operations, ...