Derek Neary
Northern News Services

Fort Simpson (Nov 25/05) - Nick Sibbeston is critical of expanding Nahanni National Park Reserve's boundaries seven fold.

To do so would rob future generations of economic development opportunities such as mineral exploration and energy projects, the Senator said last week.

Dehcho First Nations has proposed extending the park boundaries with an eye to protect much of the vast south Nahanni watershed.

Herb Norwegian, Grand Chief of Dehcho First Nations, said close to half of the overall 215,000 square-kilometre Deh Cho territory will remain open to resource development, but the sensitive Nahanni region will be excluded.

"The whole idea is to protect water. If you're going to do it properly you need to grab the whole basin, that's the only way to do it," said Norwegian.

The NWT's senator said he supports park expansion, but doubling the size of the 4,700 square-kilometre park would be sufficient, he argued.

Sibbeston warned that once the park boundaries are redrawn "you can never change it."

He maintained that Parks Canada has a poor record of dealing with aboriginal people.

"They (Parks Canada) don't want anything touched," he said. "They don't want plants taken. You can barely pick berries in there... once parks are made it's like a little Parks fiefdom, kingdom."

Although Norwegian has espoused a co-management arrangement between the Dehcho First Nations and Parks Canada, Sibbeston said Parks Canada's rules will ultimately prevail.

The grand chief, who has spent the past week on a speaking tour of southern cities to promote the park, vehemently disagreed. He said the First Nations have been laying the ground rules in its meetings with Parks Canada over the past five years.

"We're in the driver's seat on this," Norwegian said. "He (Sibbeston) is totally wrong. For a man to be taking about something he totally doesn't understand, you know, this guy's been anti-Deh Cho right from the beginning. There's nothing positive that he's ever said about us.

"I'd like to have the elders have a public meeting in Nahanni Butte and then call Nick Sibbeston into that meeting to clear up that whole situation. It's only him that's sounding like that."

Chuck Blyth, superintendent of Nahanni National Park Reserve, assured that aboriginal people will be able to hunt in the park. Any terms and limitations placed on harvesting practises are still subject to negotiations between the Deh Cho and Canada, he added.

Sibbeston also condemned CPAWS, claiming that they push their agenda too aggressively. Justin Trudeau, son of late Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and a CPAWS spokesperson with celebrity clout, has publicly advocated for park expansion. However, Trudeau has disappeared to the south for the cold winter while residents in the North remain to "eke out a living," according to Sibbeston.

"It's a park for the south, not a park for the North," he said.

Jennifer Morin, senior conservation co-ordinator with CPAWS in Yellowknife, noted that her organization does have a Northern presence. In addition she said CPAWS is only supporting the desires of Dehcho First Nations and the Nahanni Butte Dene Band.

Morin noted that a final decision on the park's boundaries won't be made until extensive consultations have taken place in the communities. The Geological Survey of Canada is carrying out a mineral survey in the Nahanni area and that data will have to be taken into account, she acknowledged.

"So far what has been put on the table by the Deh Cho people has been that it's too important of an area to risk," she said.