NORTHWEST TERRITORIES

Opinions throughout the NWT vary widely on the agreement-in-principle for devolution of lands and resources from Ottawa to the NWT.

Despite the opposition, Betty Villebrun, president of the Northwest Territory Metis Nation, praised the agreement-in-principle, and said her organization will sign it in early February. -

Chief William Koe of the Tetlit Gwich'in Council in Fort McPherson opposes the deal, signed Jan. 26 in Yellowknife.

"Devolution means devolving programs and services to the communities, and, if you don't have that, how are we going to take care of our own communities when we don't have something like that in place?" he said.

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There is not much aboriginal organizations can do to oppose the deal, Koe added.

"The only thing we can do now is work with both governments and see what we can come up with in terms of our own devolution process and interpreting how we want to see this devolution process to work for native people."

Chief Roy Fabian of K'atlodeeche First Nation on the Hay River Reserve also objects to the agreement-in-principle.

"I understand what devolution is all about," Fabian said. "I understand the need for revenues so that we can provide good service to people in the North."

However, he said aboriginal people have certain treaty and aboriginal rights, and the whole issue of land claims is still under discussion.

"For me, I've just got a problem with Canada kind of circumventing that whole thing by doing this, where they're going to turn all lands and resources over," he said.

Fabian also objected to the process by which the agreement-in-principle was reached, saying there was poor consultation and concerns raised by aboriginal people were ignored.

"The Government of the Northwest Territories and Canada, it's like they don't care what we think or what we have to say, and they just went ahead," he said.

Fabian added aboriginal people want to participate, but fundamental problems with the agreement-in-principle would have to be corrected.

Betty Villebrun, president of the Northwest Territory Metis Nation, praised the agreement-in-principle, and said her organization will sign it in early February.

"There are a lot of clauses in there that are going to help us," she said. "It's a good agreement. It's not like we can't back out or anything. It's not a binding agreement."

Villebrun expressed hope other aboriginal groups will eventually come on side.

"We can't keep going backwards," she said. "We'd rather deal with the government of the Northwest Territories, especially when it comes to our lands and everything else. Why would we want to deal with the federal government?"

Villebrun believes the agreement-in-principle will help with long-running land, resources and governance negotiations between the Northwest Territory Metis Nation and the federal and territorial governments.

"It won't take anything away from us at all," she said. "It will help us instead of taking anything away from us."

Ann Marie Tout, president of the NWT Chamber of Commerce, also welcomes the agreement.

"The NWT Chamber of Commerce is firmly in support of signing the agreement-in-principle," she said. "It certainly recognizes that not everyone is pleased, but we believe this is a starting point for negotiations."

Tout believes the agreement-in-principle will be good for business in the NWT.

"The chamber has long advocated that the control of land and resources be in the NWT where it belongs and not administered out of Ottawa," she said. "Obviously, revenue resource sharing is good for the territories."

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