YELLOWKNIFE — Floyd Roland will make his debut on Canada's political stage later this week when he travels to Ottawa to attend the first ministers summit.
And while the new Premier of the Northwest Territories will be a fresh face at Friday's meeting, the 46-year-old Inuvialuit will bring with him an old dream: his territory's quest for devolution.
"We have a lot to offer Canada," the soft-spoken married father of six said during an interview in his office.
"What we want to see in return is some lasting benefits from our own resources."
A devolution agreement with Ottawa would essentially give the Northwest Territories the same powers as a province, such as being able to collect resource royalties and regulate development.
The massive territory, which is rich in minerals and oil and gas, stands to lose billions in royalties over the coming years if it doesn't ink an agreement soon.
Its government also has little to no say on proposed projects such as the $16-billion Mackenzie Valley natural-gas pipeline.
Nunavut is seeking a devolution deal with the federal government, but its natural resource development is in the early stages. Yukon already has a devolution agreement with Ottawa.
Mr. Roland, who was first elected to the NWT legislature in 1995 and is a former finance and health minister, said it's frustrating that his government has to get approval and funding from the federal government for almost everything it does, including building new roads.
"Someone in Ottawa shouldn't be making critical decisions on how this part of the country develops."
The Premier said he's been buoyed in recent months by the federal Conservative government's increased interest in the Canadian Arctic, articulated in October's Throne Speech.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government wants to step up its presence north of the 60th parallel, and has pledged a bold and expensive military campaign to assert sovereignty over territory claimed by Canada, as well areas of the Arctic that are still in dispute.
Mr. Roland said the Northwest Territories' roughly 43,000 residents, about half of them aboriginals, are already helping the federal government assert its sovereignty claim on a daily basis just by living there.
"We can substantiate further the claims of sovereignty in the North by having [Ottawa] help us develop community infrastructure and transportation links," he added.
The Northwest Territories, which is 1.17 million square kilometres, currently receives about $760-million from the federal government annually.
Mr. Roland became the territory's 10th Premier last October. (There are no political parties in the territory's 19-seat legislature, and members of the consensus government choose the premier from among themselves after a general election.)
The former auto mechanic took over from Joe Handley, a strong advocate of devolution, who didn't seek re-election.
Gurston Dacks, an expert on Northern affairs and acting dean of arts at the University of Alberta, said this is a "good moment" in Canadian history for the Northwest Territories to push its devolution arguments because of the Tories' interest in the Arctic.
However, he warned that because Ottawa seems focused on sovereignty issues, the Northwest Territories may have to work hard to open up Mr. Harper's minority government to this possibility.
The Northwest Territories also only hosts one federal seat (which is currently held by the NDP), and there aren't many political gains to be made on this issue for the Tories, Mr. Dacks added.
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