Yellowknife (May 16/05) - "A can of worms" will open up and kill development in Yellowknife unless the territorial government offers up a 64-acre chunk of land by the airport for the Yellowknives Dene, says Dettah Chief Peter Liske.

Dettah Chief Peter Liske accused the city and territorial government of acting in bad faith with the Yellowknives Dene's plan to build a residential subdivision near the airport.

Liske, accompanied by Yellowknives community negotiator Fred Sangris, and Akaitcho chief negotiator Sharon Venne, accused the government Monday, of conspiring with the city to deny the Yellowknives a parcel of land commonly known as the Sand Pits, where they want to build a $60 million residential project.

He said the communities of Ndilo and Dettah are running out of room, and need a place to expand. The Sand Pits is their first choice to develop.

"If we can't get a 99-year lease (for the Sand Pits), we're going to open up the can of worms," said Dettah Chief Liske.

"In Ndilo, we're running out of room. We told that to the city. Now all these lands are going to open and we're going to move in. That's our right. We're going to stop all these developments in Yellowknife."

He said both levels of government are being pressured by "business" not to give them the land.

Liske said Premier Joe Handley and Municipal and Community Affairs Minister Michael McLeod told them if the Yellowknives want any land within municipal boundaries, they will have to apply for it through the city.

He warned that because the federal and then territorial governments have been selling off Yellowknives land within the city without their consent for decades, they have a strong case to take them to court and halt all development in the city if the GNWT does not hand over the Sand Pits.

He gave the territorial government until Friday to address their demands.

Sangris said if the Yellowknives are forced to take legal action, they will have no choice but to delve into Yellowknife's "ugly past" of encroachment on their territory.

"We know of the bad faith in the last 70 years where most lands were illegally sold in the City of Yellowknife," said Sangris.

"They're still selling off lands without telling us.

"The best way to deal with the Yellowknives Dene is to sit down with them and work out these arrangements," Sangris said. "Very simple, and then you don't have to deal with the ugly past. But if you don't deal with it, the ugly past is going to come, and it's going to haunt them."

Mayor Gord Van Tighem said the city isn't trying to deny the Yellowknives the land, but there are rules that have to be followed.

He said the territorial planning law requires all applications for land use within municipal boundaries to go through the city.

He said the city applied to the territorial government last February to acquire the Sand Pits - which is on Commissioner's Land - in order for the city to even be able to consider leasing it to the Yellowknives Dene.

Regardless, he said in order to push their application through it will have to face a consultation review through the Yellowknive's umbrella organization, the Akaitcho First Nation.

"They apply to lease the land, then we have to have to apply for the land so we can lease it to them or not," said Van Tighem.

McLeod said he wasn't aware of any ultimatum from the Yellowknives, although he is aware they are keenly interested in the Sand Pits.

He reiterated Van Tighem's position that all lease applications within municipal boundaries must go through the city.

Minister hopeful for progress

The minister said he hopes the two parties can work something out on their own, otherwise he will have some tough decisions to make come Sept. 1.

That's the government's deadline for a decision on which lands within city limits will go the Yellowknives and which lands will go to the city.

"Once we got all the information we're going to have to start making some tough decisions," said McLeod.

"It might not satisfy everybody but we can't sit in limbo forever."