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. This proposed pipeline became known as the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline. The inquiry cost C$5.3 million, and produced over 40,000 pages of text and evidence, comprising 283 volumes. The commission recommended that no pipeline be built through the northern Yukon and that a pipeline through the Mackenzie Valley should be delayed for 10 years. Proceeding The commissioner of the inquiry was Justice Thomas Berger, who heard testimony from diverse groups with an interest in the pipeline. Fourteen groups became full participants in the inquiry, attending all meetings and testifying before the commission. The inquiry was notable for the voice that it gave to the aboriginal people whose traditional territory the pipeline would traverse. Berger travelled extensively in the North in preparation for the hearings. He took his commission to all 35 communities along the Mackenzie River Valley, as well as in other cities across Canada, to gauge public reaction. In his travels he met with aboriginal (Dene, Inuit, Métis) and non-aboriginal residents. He held formal hearings in Yellowknife to get the views of experts about the proposal. Following this, he held community hearings across the Northwest Territories and the Yukon, and this played an important role in shaping his views. Findings The first volume of Berger's report was released on June 9, 1977, and followed with a second volume several months later. Titled Northern Frontier, Northern Homeland, the two-volume report highlighted the fact that while the Mackenzie Valley could be the site of the "biggest project in the history of free enterprise", it was also home to many peoples whose lives would be immeasurably changed by the pipeline. Environmental impact The Berger Report concluded that the northern Yukon was too susceptible to environmental harm. Berger cautioned that a gas pipeline would be a precursor to an oil pipeline. The energy transportation corridor thus created would require an immense infrastructure of roads, airports, maintenance bases and new settlements to support it. The impact on the ecosystem (both the natural habitat and its people) would be equivalent to building a railway across Canada. The commission even recommended