DENINU KU'E/FORT RESOLUTION -The settlement council in Fort Resolution wants the community to become a hamlet.

However, Louis Balsillie, the acting chief of Deninu Ku'e First Nation (DKFN), opposes the idea.

"We don't support a hamlet in Deninu Ku'e at this time," Balsillie said.

Among other things, the acting chief worries creating a hamlet would complicate the Akaitcho Territory's ongoing negotiations over land, resources and governance, and infringe on the rights of DKFN members.

Balsillie said he would have no problem changing status from "settlement" to "hamlet" once the Akaitcho negotiations are complete.

The acting chief launched a petition last month and has collected 80 names against supporting his stance.

"Most of the people are upset because there should be a community meeting about this," he added.

Balsillie hasn't yet submitted the petition to the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs (MACA) and will check with a lawyer about what to do with it.

Balsillie said he also has concerns about what hamlet status would mean for property taxes and the creation of bylaws.

"As a First Nation, you don't want laws imposed on your people," he said.

Deninoo Community Council made a formal request to become a hamlet last year with a 25-name petition to the minister of municipal and community affairs.

Tausia Kaitu'u-Lal, the senior administrative officer with the council, said a change to hamlet status would not affect Akaitcho negotiations and the rights of aboriginal people to pursue land claims, entitlements and self-government.

"It doesn't change the process," she said. "It doesn't change what they're doing now."

Kaitu'u-Lal said hamlet status would benefit Fort Resolution in many ways.

"We would receive more funding than we do now," she said, adding the community would also gain the power to pass bylaws to control things like ATVs on the streets.

Kaitu'u-Lal hopes the minister will approve the application and a new hamlet council can be elected on Dec. 14, the next date for a settlement election.

As part of the request to the minister, a 90-day notification period was posted from April 1 to June 30, during which time anyone opposed to hamlet status could submit concerns to MACA.

David Kravitz, the community government manager with MACA, said one objection was registered and that was from DKFN.

Kravitz said the band expressed concern about a lack of consultation and possible interference with Akaitcho negotiations.

The minister, Robert McLeod, replied with a letter in early June offering consultative meetings and asking for clarification about concerns over negotiations.

However, Kravitz said MACA has not yet received a reply from the First Nation.

Meetings have already been held with the settlement council, but not the public or DKFN.

Kravitz said the process will involve the deputy minister making a recommendation on hamlet status to the minister, who will make the final decision.

"I'm hoping that would happen within the next couple of weeks," Kravitz said.

If the minister issues an establishment order for a hamlet in Fort Resolution, that would allow nominations in October for the election in December.

Kravitz said switching to hamlet status offers benefits such as access to more funding, the ability to pass bylaws, and the right for a municipality to own property.

Currently, municipal property in Fort Resolution is owned by the GNWT.

Kravitz said there are only two communities with settlement status left in the NWT.

The other is Colville Lake, which has applied to become a charter community. Its 90-day notification period began on July 15.

Settlements were set up in the 1970s as a transitional form of local government, Kravitz said. "We never saw settlements as a permanent thing."