Yellowknife (Oct 30/06) - A special assembly of the Dene Nation last week revealed frustration from First Nations leaders over the territorial government's handling of aboriginal affairs.

The special assembly was held in Fort Good Hope from Oct. 17 to 20.

Criticisms of the territorial government ranged from accusations of poor wildlife and environmental management to its involvement in the Dene self government process.

The most controversial motion was put forward by Chief Ron Pierrot of the K'asho Gotine Charter Community Council in Fort Good Hope.

It called for the Dene to "reduce or eliminate" the involvement of the territorial government, alleging that it "plays a diluted role in a self-government process."

Dene national Chief Bill Erasmus said this was an issue of principle, if taken alongside another motion to unite the Dene into a single negotiating body.

"It's no one's business in Yellowknife to tell someone in Fort Simpson what to do. We can have power and authority in the communities, but it needs to be delegated to chiefs and mayors, and also a larger body. People have always talked about having a system that's different in the North, and I think we can have that," said Erasmus.

Chief Leon Lafferty of the Tlicho government in Behchoko, demanded the creation of a new Denendeh wildlife committee to oversee caribou.

"Whereas the Dene people are the caretakers of the land and whereas the government of the Northwest Territories' Renewable Resource Boards for dealing with lands, water and environment are not meeting the needs of protecting the above mentioned...the Dene people do make this motion to create a Denendeh Wildlife Committee to deal with the decline of caribou herds within Denendeh and the increase of predators," read the motion, which carried by consensus.

Erasmus agreed the decline of caribou was a principal concern.

Erasmus has promised that the Dene Nation will end negotiations with the federal and territorial government by April 2010.

"We have set a date to complete all the government discussions. On that date, which is April 2010, our own governments can begin to function," he said.

He said it was important for Dene negotiators to create firm deadlines, so that talks about self-government don't continue forever.

"We've been at it for 37 years, we've spent millions, we've heard the rhetoric, and now we're saying 'let's cut to the chase," he said.

Erasmus compared current negotiations to the formation of Nunavut, which was completed in 1999. At the time, he said, government and aboriginal groups agreed on a firm deadline, to constrain their discussions and ensure a concrete result.

Erasmus said the recent Dene assembly was a special request, stemming from the Dene's summer assembly in Hay River.

"Normally we don't have special assemblies unless there is a special reason," he said.

"But there was little business done at the last meeting since it was election year. People wanted us to get together and deal with some of the issues before us," Erasmus said.

"People are trying to move towards having their own governments in place and they want certain levels of assistance and assurance. How do you measure what's working? How do you work so that people are synchronized? There's a number of things to discuss."

The Dene Nation is scheduled to meet next July in Behchoko, Denendeh, before the territorial election in October 2007.