The Pembina Institute delivers Northern Oil and Gas and the Environment Workshops in Alberta and in the North. Our past workshops include:

• 16 five-day workshops in Alberta (2002-2010)
• community workshops in Tuktoyaktuk, Inuvik, Aklavik, Yellowknife, and Fort Good Hope in the Northwest Territories, and Whitehorse and Watson Lake in the Yukon (March 2005 and June 2006)
• three coal bed methane workshops in Alberta (June-July 2006, 2007)
• two youth workshops in Yellowknife (October and November 2005)
• two Northern Leaders Oilsands Tours (2008 and 2009)

In addition, the Pembina Institute plans to develop renewable energy and "solutions-based" workshops to contribute to sustainable energy development in the Arctic.

Past Workshops and Tours 

Northern Oil and Gas and the Environment Workshop

October 3–7, 2011

The October Northern Oil and Gas and the Environment Workshop provided Northerners with an opportunity to learn about the oil and gas industry in Alberta first-hand. Participants visited oil and gas facilities and met with industry and industry associations, regulators, land owners, and local First Nation representatives. The workshop addressed technical aspects of the industry as well as policy considerations and best practices. 

Since 2002, Pembina has held fifteen Alberta-based, and eight Northern-based Northern Oil and Gas and the Environment Workshops. These have been attended by over 600 Northerners involved in managing oil and gas development from a range of backgrounds.

Northern Leaders
Oilsands Tour

In spring 2008, Pembina coordinated the first-ever Northern Leaders Oilsands Tour. A delegation of leaders from the Northwest Territories toured the Alberta oil sands region. Participants learned about the environmental and social impacts of oilsands development and established relationships with Alberta First Nations. Building on the success of the 2008 tour, the Pembina Institute offered a second Northern Leaders Oilsands Tour in June, 2009.

Inside the Pembina Institute's Northern Oil and Gas Workshops: Videos and Photos

In this video, Peggy Holroyd, Director of the Pembina Institute's Arctic Energy Solutions program, introduces a "Build Your Own Gas Field" exercise at a workshop held in Yellowknife in 2005.

"Imagine you are coming to an area for the first time. Where are you going to explore? Where are you going to put the seismic lines?"

Participants in a 2005 workshop in Yellowknife take part in a creative exercise designed to demonstrate the risks associated with the cumulative effects of oil and gas development.

"If you have multiple variables . . .[the interplay] makes it harder and harder to come up with a meaningful risk assessment."

In this video from a workshop in Yellowknife in 2005, Tom Hegan, an Alberta Landowner, talks about the positives and negative effects oil and gas development has had on his community.

"There's a positive and there's a negative to just about everything."