Now the people decide
Vote planned next week on Deline self-government agreement
Paul Bickford
Northern News Services
Published Monday, March 3, 2014
DELINE/FORT FRANKLIN
An historic ratification vote by the people will take place next week on a self-government agreement for Deline.
"It's basically the first community-based self-government agreement in the country," said Danny Gaudet, the chief negotiator for Deline.
Gaudet, who represents the Deline First Nation and the Deline Land Corporation, explained the agreement is the only one in Canada negotiated on a community basis, rather than for a region.
The agreement, the result of work that began in the mid-1990s, would be precedent-setting.
"I'm certain other groups that are already negotiating are watching what we're doing and are interested in seeing what our model looks like, and seeing whether or not it's doing what we said it will do," said Gaudet.
If ratified, the agreement would create a new political entity - the Deline Got'ine Government - which would combine the Deline First Nation, the Charter Community of Deline and the Deline Land Corporation, which was created under the Sahtu land claim agreement of 1993.
"We're over-governed, as we see it right now, and we're trying to simplify the system," said Gaudet, who has been chief negotiator for Deline since early 1997.
The voting will take place from March 10 to 12 at polling stations in Deline and Yellowknife. Plus, eligible voters - members of Deline First Nation and the Deline Land Corporation - can also vote by mail-in ballot if they live outside the community. An estimated 50 per cent of voters live elsewhere.
Advance polls also took place on Feb. 25 and 26.
Gaudet said he didn't have exact numbers for the advance poll, but he estimated at least 20 per cent of the 705 eligible voters cast ballots.
To be ratified by the community, the agreement must be supported by a majority of all eligible voters.
"We pretty much need everybody to come out and vote," said Gaudet. "Of the voters, we need 50 per cent plus one. And the non-voters, the people that don't vote, their vote is actually going to be counted as a no vote."
The chief negotiator is encouraging all eligible voters to turn out and cast ballots.
"I'm confident that it will pass," he said. "We're getting a pretty good response from people, and generally everybody seems to be helping and supporting getting people to vote and other family members to vote."
Gaudet noted that, if the agreement is ratified, the new community government could assume power in numerous areas, such as municipal services, justice, economic development, land management, language and culture, wellness and social programs, education, preschool, capital planning, community land use, and gambling and gaming.
"We can even look after marriages," he said.
Gaudet said he is excited about the upcoming vote, but is going to wait to see the results.
"I've always been a cautious guy, so I want to wait until the final results come in and then we'll see what the people say," he said. "It's not in my hands."
If it is ratified, the agreement will then move on to the GNWT and the federal government for their approvals.
A target date of April 1, 2016, has been set for the new government to be established.
Fred Talen, director of negotiations with the GNWT's Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations, was the chief negotiator on the Deline file on and off from 2000 to the draft of a final agreement in 2012.
"Certainly this is the end product of many, many years of negotiations and the work of many, many people," he said of the upcoming ratification vote.
"It's certainly a milestone and an historic time for the community of Deline," he added. "The self-government agreement has a number of unique features in it that are, I think, unique in the country. If it's ratified and becomes a final agreement and a treaty, it will be historic definitely, and will set some precedents for other communities perhaps to consider."
Talen said the agreement is unique in the NWT because it deals with a single community, plus it will lead to an inclusive aboriginal public government.
"So it will wear two hats, if you will," he explained. "It will wear the hat of dealing with matters internal to the Deline First Nation and Deline citizens, but also have authority for all residents living in Deline through its inclusive side."
The self-government negotiation process arose from the Sahtu land claim signed in 1993.
Between 1996 and 2008, Deline, the federal government and the GNWT negotiated a self-government agreement-in-principle, and then the final agreement by 2012.
