Jorge Barrera
Northern News Services

Dettah (Mar 04/02) - A Yellowknives elder said the Dogrib should work with the Yellowknives to settle a land dispute that has been simmering for longer than a decade.

Yellowknives elder Michael Paper says he believes a squabble over land between the Akaitcho and the Dogrib is pulling the nations apart. - NNSL file photo

Michael Paper said the dispute over land has pulled the Dogrib and the Yellowknives apart.

"I'm past 88 years old now and I know a lot of things and all Fort Rae and Yellowknives worked together," said Paper in a phone interview from Dettah. "In the last 11 years they never say hello to me, never say hi to me, nothing and it's over land."

The Yellowknives belong to the Akaitcho Treaty 8 Nation that includes Lutsel K'e and Deninu Koe. The Akaitcho have been embroiled in a dispute with the Dogrib over who has rights to land from Boundary Creek to Lutsel K'e.

The Akaitcho want a border at Boundary Creek but the Dogrib have claimed the whole area as part of their settlement area.

Paper said he believes it is Akaitcho land dating back to 1900, when the Yellowknives signed their treaty.

"We need that boundary," said Paper.

Paper said Chief Monfwi, who signed Treaty 11 for the Dogrib in 1921, chose the disputed chunk of land because Yellowknives Chief Suzi Drygeese advised him to do what the Yellowknives had done.

Alphonse Nitisza, a long-time Dogrib political activist who was involved with the Indian Brotherhood in the 1970s and the Dene-Metis land-claim deal that fell through in 1990, said the territory Monfwi outlined is Dogrib territory.

He said maps he researched during his days with the Indian Brotherhood proved the disputed area was used extensively by the Dogrib.

"We are working under what Monfwi stated on the map," said Nitisza in a phone interview from Wha Ti.

Nitisza said the Yellowknives are just using the Dogrib to get what they want from the federal government in their negotiations.

"Since the Dogrib started their claim they have been attacked from all sides," said Nitisza.

The Deh Cho also have an outstanding boundary dispute over the Horn Plateau and the Metis have launched an injunction to stop the Dogrib claim--a judgment is pending.

"We want to govern ourselves," said Nitisza. "And Monfwi has drawn the line where we say we want to govern ourselves."