Roxanna Thompson
Northern News Services
Thursday, January 10, 2008

DEH CHO - For many residents of the Deh Cho 2007 was a year that held both bright and dark moments.

A bright point in Wrigley came when Edward Hardisty celebrated his 90th birthday in October.

Hardisty is the oldest elder in the community and has more than 50 grandchildren, said Tannis Cli.

"He's still with us and we're happy," Cli said.

It was a pretty good year in Trout Lake although it ended on a sour note with a number of pieces of the community's heavy equipment breaking down, said Ruby Jumbo.

Looking forward into the new year Jumbo said it was "to early to say" what the year could hold.

Jumbo said she's looking forward to spending time with her three children and getting out on the land more often.

In Jean Marie River it was a busy year for Erma Norwegian, who is the band's finance officer.

It was the first year the community received funding under the new deal from the government and there were new rules and regulations to learn, Norwegian said.

Looking forward, Norwegian said she is hoping for a quieter year.

"I hope it's not as busy as this year," Norwegian said.

The year held both successes and disappointments for the village of Fort Simpson, said Mayor Duncan Canvin.

"It was fraught with the frustration of not getting projects done and equally getting other projects done," he said.

Projects that had significant amounts of work done on them included the extension to the village's fire hall, improvements to the water distribution system, ditching and replacement of water and sewer mains, said Canvin.

It also proved to be a staging year for a number of projects that weren't completed, including the concrete pad in the arena and the new pool. Canvin said he's looking forward to finishing those projects and moving forward on the skateboard park in the new year.

"Getting all these things knocked off would be nice," he said.

The bright point in the year for Kakisa and the Ka'a'gee Tu First Nation came in July when the Federal Court ruled in the band's favour in two related cases against the government of Canada, said Chief Lloyd Chicot.

"It highlighted the struggle we've been having against Canada in the last 10 to 15 years," he said.

In one case it was ruled that the government violated Ka'a'Gee Tu's right to meaningful consultation before a final decision was made on a modified land use permit granted to Paramount Resources Ltd. in 2005.

People across Canada watched the outcome of the case, said Chicot.

During the rest of the year things went well in the community, Chicot said.

"Overall I think it was a good year," he said.

In 2008 Chicot would like to see more people getting out on the land. The band would like to see people get work through resource development, he said.

In the new year Kakisa will also continue to support the Dehcho Process.

"I hope it continues to move forward," said Chicot.

In Fort Simpson the year went fairly well for the Liidlii Kue First Nation (LKFN), said Chief Keyna Norwegian.

Over the year the band developed a more active approach for getting input from membership. The band realized membership meetings don't work, said Norwegian.

"If they don't come to us we go looking for them," she said.

In the new year, there will be three big ticket items on which membership will be asked for their opinion. The first will be the size and management of the expanded Nahanni National Park Reserve, said Norwegian.

Also important is the Dehcho Process. Currently the federal government is leaning towards land selection, something that the membership hasn't wanted in the past, said Norwegian. Norwegian is also hoping to see progress on the access and benefits agreements for the Mackenzie Gas Project.

On a personal note, Norwegian said she's excited about competing in golf at the North American Indigenous Games as a representative for the NWT. Norwegian won a place at the games after finishing first in her division at a tryout in Hay River over the summer.