Fort Simpson (July 09/04) - Former NWT Premier Stephen Kakfwi is urging Deh Cho aboriginal leaders to sign on to a pipeline access agreement that would generate $40 million a year within the Mackenzie Valley.

In Kakisa to make his pitch last week, Kakfwi compared the levy to a property tax against industry for using traditional lands. Aboriginal governments are entitled to the revenues to help offset the impacts the pipeline project will have on their people, he explained.

However, he said impact benefits agreement would still have to be negotiated separately with communities.

Kakfwi, who has been hired by Colville Lake and Fort Good Hope to advance the access agreement, said the K'asho Got'ine Dene are aiming to have the terms of their access agreement adopted throughout the Mackenzie Valley.

Combined, the K'asho Got'ine territory and the Deh Cho would comprise approximately 63 per cent of the proposed pipeline route, forming what Kakfwi described as a "formidable alliance."

Fort Good Hope and Colville Lake's share of the payment from the Mackenzie Valley Producers' Group -- the consortium of oil and gas companies planning the pipeline project -- would be $8 million a year, he said. The Deh Cho would stand to make even more as it represents close to 40 per cent of the pipeline corridor.

Herb Norwegian, Grand Chief of the Dehcho First Nations, called the access agreement "attractive." Although the Dehcho could draft its own agreement as have the Inuvialuit and Gwich'in, it's not just about dollars and cents, said Norwegian.

"It's a little more than that looking at it from a moral point of view," he said. "If the political thinking is there, then they (the K'ahsho Got'ine) become natural allies, aside from their proposal."

Like the K'asho Got'ine, the Dehcho First Nations has so far eschewed the Aboriginal Pipeline Group, which is offering a one-third aboriginal share in the pipeline. Norwegian said the deal doesn't grant the Dehcho enough control over the 40 per cent of the pipeline to cross its territory.

APG makes its case

Kakfwi said if the access agreement is accepted, then the K'asho Got'ine may look upon the Aboriginal Pipeline Group deal more favourably.

Jim Antoine, who is working for the Aboriginal Pipeline Group as a consultant, reminded the Deh Cho delegates the deal is better than the "big, fat zero" aboriginal groups got from the oil pipeline running south from Norman Wells.

The Deh Cho could become more independent with equity in the Mackenzie Valley pipeline, Antoine suggested.

"We always go to the federal government with our hand out," he said of the Dehcho First Nation's current funding situation.

Bob Reid, president of the Aboriginal Pipeline Group, said one-third ownership in the pipeline will result in a long-term dividend as long as natural gas is flowing.

Banks wouldn't be willing to finance the group's share of the project if it was doomed to fail, he said. He added the group consists of an all-aboriginal board of directors with a goal of maximizing benefits for communities.