Mike W. Bryant
Northern News Services

Lac La Marte (Sep 09/02) - "Let's get the ball rolling," was the only encouragement the Dogrib First Nation needed from its grand chief, Joe Rabesca, to begin the initialing ceremony for the long-awaited Tli Cho Final Agreement.

Dogrib Grand Chief Joe Rabesca applies his signature as witness to the Tli Cho Final Agreement, initialed in Wha Ti last Wednesday. - photo courtesy of Georgina Franki

More than 700 members were in attendance for the ceremony, which was held in Wha Ti Wednesday. Formal negotiations for the Dogrib comprehensive land claims began in January 1994.

If all goes well, the agreement will be ratified after a three-month grace period, meant to facilitate public discussions, runs out in December.

Under the agreement, a Tli Cho government will replace the existing bands within the region as the local governing body. The federal government will supply $90 million, and a share of resource royalties will also go towards the new government after ratification.

The Dogrib will also take sole ownership of 39,000 square kilometres of land, including subsurface rights, in an area linked by the four Dogrib communities.

Dogrib chief negotiator John B. Zoe, who initialed the agreement with his federal counterpart, Jean Yves Assiniwi, and territorial chief negotiator Gary Black, said the agreement is a document other First Nations can look to when settling their land claims.

"Any time there is a new agreement there's always new things that are introduced and agreed on," said Zoe. "It's there for other groups to look at and see if they can build on. It's always alive, always growing."

The Final Agreement is not without controversy. The Dogrib's neighbours pressured both the federal and territorial government's not to initial the agreement in the days leading up to it, saying boundary issues have not been settled.

The Akaitcho Treaty 8 took the Dogrib to court last May in attempt to halt the land claim because of an outstanding disagreement between their two boundaries.

The North Slave Metis Alliance also criticized the Dogrib, along with federal and territorial negotiators, because they were left out of the consultation process.

Deh Cho Grand Chief Mike Nadli said an agreement he made between himself and Rabesca on June 11 over their boundaries was omitted from the Final Agreement, and therefore he could not support it either. Nonetheless, Nadli remains confident a deal can still be reached between the two First Nations.

"Our talks with the Dogrib should still continue along the lines of the cordial diplomacy that has prevailed over our talks," said Nadli. "We're very close to an agreement."