Before devolution, the Government of Canada collected and kept almost all of the money companies pay to develop resources on public land in the Northwest Territories (NWT). Some Aboriginal governments were also entitled to resource revenues from public land through their land claim and self-government agreements.
The Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) did not receive any revenues from resource development and relied on federal transfer payments and taxes to deliver public programs and services to NWT residents like health care, education, housing and social services.
Since devolution, the GNWT and Canada will share the resource revenues from public land in the NWT. This means tens of millions of dollars will stay in the NWT each year. Because resource revenues fluctuate they should not be used to fund essential, ongoing public services, and are best suited for short term infrastructure projects and debt repayment. The GNWT has also agreed to share its portion of revenues with Aboriginal governments. This is in addition to the resource revenues from public land entitled to Aboriginal governments through land claim and self-government agreements.