The Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry, also known as the Berger Inquiry after its head Justice Thomas Berger, was commissioned by the Government of Canada on March 21, 1974, to investigate the social, environmental, and economic impact of a proposed gas pipeline that would run through the Yukon and the Mackenzie River Valley of the Northwest Territories.
The energy transportation corridor thus created would require an immense infrastructure of roads, airports, maintenance bases and new settlements to support it.
The report concluded that large-scale projects based on non-renewable energy sources rarely provide long-term employment, and that those locals that did find work during construction could only fill low-skill, low-wage positions.
In addition, Berger feared that pipeline development would undermine local economies which relied on hunting, fishing, and trapping, possibly even increasing economic hardship in the area.
In Berger's view, rapid development in the north would preclude settlement of those important issues because of the influx of non-native populations and growing business interests.
Justice Berger recommended a ten-year moratorium to deal with critical issues, such as settling Aboriginal land claims and setting aside key conservation areas, before attempting to build the proposed pipeline.