Agenda for change creates confusion among Dogribs
Jeff Colbourne
Northern News Services
NNSL (Sep 25/98) - It's an old message with a new spin. Premier Don Morin on Wednesday announced a new agenda for the new Western territory after division.
It broadly outlines and reiterates the government's plan to take control of resources, restructure its fiscal relationship with Ottawa, tap into the North's potential and better lead its people.
"We believe the best way for the West to develop all the opportunities that exist and developing the people in the Western Arctic is by a partnership approach," said Morin during a press conference on Wednesday.
"We believe that we can achieve great things by recognizing the inherent right of aboriginal peoples to govern themselves but also recognize that there's got to be somebody looking at the overall picture because guaranteed, different regions are not because they're mandated by their people to and negotiate their interests. Our job is to take care of all the NWT and we fully intend on doing that."
The government has spent the last few months coming up with a new agenda after being told by their self-government negotiators their previous vision and principles from 1996 could not fit into negotiations that were happening.
Minister of Transportation Jim Antoine said the agenda is a change in the way they instruct negotiators at the table.
Though Morin seems sincere with his statement on partnerships in his agenda, the idea has created considerable confusion among members of the Western NWT Aboriginal Summit."These statements may have serious implications for the implementation of the inherent aboriginal right of self-government in the Western NWT," said Marina Devine, executive director of the summit in a media release.
Attempting to clear up growing confusion, Grand Chief Joe Rabesca has sent a letter to Morin and Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs Jane Stewart illustrating their position on negotiations.
"The Dogribs feel very strongly that the confusion of the past few days has arisen for one reason and one reason only. That is because the GNWT is not acting through the negotiation table. The GNWT is trying to interpret the Dogribs position to Canada --away from the negotiation table. This is, to say the least, unhelpful. The Dogribs can and do speak for themselves at the negotiating table," said Rabesca in his letter.
Western NWT aboriginal summit members were scheduled to meet yesterday to further discuss Morin's statement.
