Derek Neary
Northern News Services

Kakisa (July 01/02) - K'atlodeeche Chief Pat Martel is willing to discuss with the federal government his council's opposition to the unionization of Hay River Reserve employees.

Martel made the commitment at the urging of his fellow chiefs during last week's Deh Cho First Nations' assembly in Kakisa. However, he stopped short of withdrawing K'atlodeeche First Nation's litigation against the Canada Labour Code, an attempt to prevent the union from being certified. An Aug. 19 Supreme court date is looming.

Therefore any progress is dubious, according to Jean-Francois Des Lauriers, regional executive vice-president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC).

"Creating these delays through court challenges is making things worse," Des Lauriers said. "We're extremely tenacious. We're not going away.

"Right now workers are at the whim of the employer... the employer has been using their power in an unfair manner."

While addressing delegates gathered in the arbour last Thursday, Martel refused to talk about the issue in detail due to the presence of PSAC officials and union drive leader Sandra Edjericon.

"They know what they have done. They've offended too many people. They've disrespected the leadership," Martel said through a Slavey translator. But when the matter arose again the next day, Martel offered this: "We do not want litigation, but it always seems our backs are up against the wall."

While expressing support for the Katlo'deeche First Nation, some Deh Cho chiefs want the dispute settled soon because the federal government will not sign any more interim self-government agreements while a local First Nation is naming Canada in court action.

Bill Erasmus, national chief of the Dene Nation, also present at last week's assembly, challenged that federal policy. Acknowledging that a union can be "a good thing" -- he even suggested the possibility of forming a Dene union or joining a national First Nations' union -- Erasmus said any collective bargaining unit would have to meet terms set by chief and council.

"No one ... has the right to come onto their reserve and tell them how to run it," Erasmus said.

Yet, workers at the Nats'ejee K'eh Treatment Centre and Evergreen Forestry organized on the reserve years ago without such serious backlash.

Edjericon, who had worked in the K'atlodeeche band office for a year and a half, said she feels her dismissal in March was a direct result of her attempt to unionize the band's 45 employees.

Des Lauriers said Edjericon must be vindicated.

"She's been singled out and her livelihood has been taken away from her," he said.