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Mediation for the nation
Respected professor to broker talks between DCFN-Feds by Arthur Milnes
FORT SIMPSON (Mar 06/98) - One of Canada's leading scholars has taken on the job of attempting to find common ground between the Deh Cho First Nations (DCFN) and Ottawa's Department of Indian and Northern Affairs (DIAND).
Professor Peter Russell, a Rhodes Scholar and a political science professor at the University of Toronto since 1958, has just been appointed a ministerial envoy, charged with initiating discussions between the two stalled sides.
The appointment arises out of a face-to-face meeting between DCFN Grand Chief Michael Nadli and DIAND Minister Jane Stewart held in Hull, Quebec last fall.
"Professor Russell's main responsibility will be to discuss with the Deh Cho First Nations their interests regarding land, resources and governance, to communicate the federal interests in the same areas and to provide a report on areas of consensus which may lead to further discussions towards an equitable arrangement between the Deh Cho First Nations and Canada," Stewart said in a release.
Nadli said that Russell's study will be done in context of the Deh Cho Proposal.
Russell, the chair of the research advisory committee for the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, will be expected to report to the 1998 Deh Cho Annual Assembly this coming summer. |