 | E-mail this story |  | Write letter to editor |  | Order a classified ad |
| E-mail this story | | Write letter to editor | | Order a classified ad |
Mike W. Bryant
Northern News Services
Tlicho (Dogrib) Grand Chief Joe Rabesca said First Nations in the North traditionally worked together to solve their differences, and is optimistic a renaissance of goodwill and understanding will return by the time the Dene Leadership meeting wraps up in Rae tomorrow.
"It's finally going back that way so I'm very happy," said Rabesca. "It really doesn't matter to me if there's a line there.
"We've always lived together. I can go hunting to Snowdrift and no one's going to say a word to me, and vice versa, they can do the same thing on my end."
Until Nov. 19, there were few olive branches to extend between the Tlicho and Akaitcho First Nations. But after 11 days of meetings the two parties finally reached an agreement on the boundary, extending from Boundary Creek into the Barrenlands.
The Akaitcho and Tlicho chiefs are scheduled to formally sign the boundary agreement in Rae this afternoon.
Akaitcho Chief Richard Edjericon said he too is relieved the boundary dispute is over, and Dene chiefs can now concentrate on other matters, such as the proposed Mackenzie Valley pipeline and self-government.
"Once it (boundary agreement) is out of the way then we can start focusing at our own table," said Edjericon. "Those are things we can start working on now, and work on some real issues."
Nonetheless, Deh Cho Grand Chief Mike Nadli, said he expects most of the agenda for this leadership meeting to be less demanding now that some of the more controversial issues are out of the way. The Deh Cho also had a boundary dispute with the Tlicho, but that was resolved last Oct. 31. "We set it up so on Wednesday the agenda is going to be fairly light just to try and dull the abrasive political issues, and try to just have a sense of serenity of all the regions that will be there," said Nadli.
