DENINU KU'E/FORT RESOLUTION
There was no mincing words by the MLA for Tu Nedhe and residents of the electoral district, which includes Fort Resolution and Lutsel K'e, about proposed changes to electoral boundaries that would see a major political impact on the two communities.
Fort Resolution, along with Lutsel K'e, makes up the electoral district of Tu Nedhe. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo
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MLA Tom Beaulieu called it a "travesty."
Garry Bailey, the mayor of Fort Resolution called it "shameful."
Of all the electoral districts in the NWT, none would likely be hit as hard as Tu Nedhe by the proposed boundary changes in last week's interim report of the Electoral Boundaries Commission.
"The riding of Tu Nedhe is eliminated," states the report describing two options it presented for a legislative assembly of 18 or 19 seats.
In those two options, Tu Nedhe would disappear in an amalgamation with portions of the current Deh Cho and Monfwi districts to form one district. It would include Fort Providence, Kakisa, Enterprise, Whati, Gameti, Wekweeti, Fort Resolution, Lutsel K'e and a large area outside of community boundaries.
A third option for a 21-seat assembly would see Fort Resolution and Lutsel K'e joined with Dettah and N'Dilo, plus a large area outside community boundaries such as the Ingraham Trail.
"In all three proposals it would be very difficult for a person currently within Tu Nedhe to represent the Tu Nedhe people," said Beaulieu, explaining the current residents of Tu Nedhe would become a minority in all of the proposed districts.
The MLA, who also sits on cabinet, objected to the proposed eight-community district because it affects the three existing districts represented by MLAs who speak an aboriginal language in the legislative assembly – himself, Michael Nadli and Jackson Lafferty.
"So two languages will be lost in the legislative assembly," Beaulieu said.
The MLA believes the Electoral Boundaries Commission included eight communities in two options because their populations added up to the right number.
"That's the only criteria that this group looked at," he said.
Tu Nedhe, with 797 people in 2012, is the NWT electoral district with the smallest population.
Beaulieu said small, mostly aboriginal communities, such as Fort Resolution and Lutsel K'e, need a strong MLA and advocate to represent them because of issues such as high unemployment, the importance of social programs and concerns about education.
However, he said it would be "insane" to expect that one MLA could handle the workload to properly serve eight small communities distributed over a large area.
"It's a travesty for the people in the small communities," he said.
Beaulieu, who said he was speaking as an MLA and not as a cabinet minister, rejected commission members' statement to media that they looked at factors such as culture, community interest and language.
"That's all BS. They didn't look at that, obviously," he said. "How do you combine three completely different languages? How do you not acknowledge that language is important to this government and culture is important to this government?"
Kara King, president of the Fort Resolution Metis Council, said the proposed boundary changes would be unfortunate.
"Because we're losing our voice," she said, adding that is a danger because of upcoming devolution and industrial development.
King said she doesn't think an eight-community district would be practical because it includes three different groups – the Slavey, Tlicho and Chipewyan.
"It doesn't make sense because, when you look at it, you'd have to speak three languages," she said, noting it's very important for the people of Fort Resolution and Lutsel K'e that their MLA speak the Chipewyan language.
"You need to be able to connect with your people," she added. "You can't just throw somebody in there that doesn't know their cultural values or how the communities themselves operate."
King doesn't think joining Fort Resolution and Lutsel K'e into an electoral district with Dettah and Ndilo makes sense either because those two communities are north of Great Slave Lake and on the doorstep of Yellowknife. "If they don't have the services that we don't have, they can just go into Yellowknife."
The Metis Council president believes Tu Nedhe is an exceptional circumstance that should vary from the average number of people in an NWT electoral district.
"Right now, my position is taking away Tu Nedhe is unacceptable," she said.
Steven Nitah, a former MLA for Tu Nedhe and resident of Lutsel K'e, believes maintaining the status quo is the best option for the district.
Nitah said he understands the reason behind representation based on population.
"But you have MLAs in Yellowknife tripping over each other trying to get to the next organized social event," he said, noting that, at the same time, other MLAs represent smaller and First Nations communities which have 10 times the needs of Yellowknife.
The former MLA said he would feel sorry for anyone elected to represent an eight-community district, noting the only connection would be that they are small communities and the travel requirements would be difficult.
"The communities that are recommended are in the Tlicho land claim agreement, within the Dehcho Process and within the Akaitcho negotiation process," he said. "So they would be all under different constitutional relationships with Canada and the Government of the Northwest Territories."
Bailey said he is "totally" against changing Tu Nedhe.
He said Fort Resolution is the oldest community in the NWT and played a prominent role in the fur trading industry.
"To take us right out of being represented by our own people, it's shameful," he said.
Bailey said he has nothing negative to say about any other group, but, "Everybody should have the right to represent their communities."
The people of Tu Nedhe have to have their own representation, because they have different needs, he said. "We have different lands and we're going to have obviously different opinions at some point. We trust our own people to do the best for their people."
Bailey said there is a lot of opposition in Fort Resolution to the idea of changing the boundaries of Tu Nedhe, and he hopes the legislative assembly will hear and listen to that opposition.
