Dehcho negotiations break down again
Mediation, legal options considered as talks stall
Shane Magee
Northern News Services
Monday, March 16, 2015
LIDLII KUE/FORT SIMPSON
Dehcho First Nations grand chief Herb Norwegian says if the territorial government is considering mediation to get land claims talks back on track, there's a "gleam of hope" despite threats of legal action.
Norwegian said in a March 4 press release DFN leaders rejected the government's latest land quantum offer of 37,500 square km of surface land with a 17.78 per cent subsurface royalty share.
He said DFN is seeking up to 50,000 square km.
"We're standing firm," he said in an interview with News/North, in which he called for a mediator to be brought in to bridge the gap.
Failing that, Norwegian said taking the GNWT to court is an option.
A statement last week from a GNWT spokesman suggested mediation is being considered.
"We're quite pleased they're seriously looking at mediation," Norwegian said in response.
"If they're serious, I guess that would be a gleam of hope."
Norwegian's comments March 10 came in the midst of an increasingly public breakdown in relations between the two sides over the Dehcho Process.
Premier Bob McLeod denies the GNWT threatened to "terminate" negotiations and told the legislative assembly the behaviour of DFN leaders isn't new and makes a path forward difficult.
"While facilitation might be an option to consider, it is not something that can be realistically entertained while one party is accusing the other of bad faith and stating that it intends to litigate," the premier told MLAs on March 12.
After cancelling a scheduled interview last week, the government bought a full-page ad in Deh Cho Drum styled as an open letter to Dehcho members. In it, McLeod stated the GNWT "does not want to negotiate in the press."
He then gave an interview March 13 in which he said the GNWT wants to return to the main negotiating table with DFN.
"There's always the option of taking a legal approach to pursue the position that we're in," Norwegian said about the state of negotiations in an interview on March 4.
DFN lawyer Chris Reid was "directly instructed to take a hard line" by leadership in communications with the GNWT's legal counsel, Norwegian told News/North.
An e-mail Reid sent to both representatives of the federal government and the GNWT said if the territorial government follows through on a threat to terminate the Dehcho Process that DFN wants to be notified immediately. It would then begin legal action.
GNWT press secretary Shaun Dean, responding to questions from News/North on behalf of McLeod via e-mail, wrote "it is difficult to reconcile this request (for mediation) with the later notice that the Dehcho’s lawyer sent to the GNWT making serious allegations of bad faith and breach of the duty to consult and stating an intention to put this matter before the courts."
Reid said the statement was a mischaracterization of his e-mail.
Dehcho First Nations, the Government of Canada and GNWT have been in negotiations to reach an agreement in principle since 2001. Norwegian said one of the last big issues before they get there is the amount of land that would be controlled by DFN.
In 2007, the federal government made a land quantum offer of 39,336 square km.
The offer was based on population, giving a certain amount of land per person.
In the following years, Acho Dene Koe First Nation, Fort Liard Metis and the K'atlodeeche First Nation have left Dehcho First Nations.
Accounting for the decreased population, the offer to DFN dropped to 33,488 square km.
After devolution, which took place in April 2014, the GNWT took the lead in negotiations with DFN.
In a letter the premier sent to DFN earlier this year given to News/North, the 2007 offer was increased to 37,500 square kilometres.
He wrote that "this represents the full extent of the GNWT's flexibility. With this proposal, the GNWT is offering the best land and resources settlement terms in the history of the NWT, if not Canada."
If DFN did not accept the offer, the premier wrote the two sides should acknowledge that negotiations have failed.
The back and forth in the press and in the legislative assembly began earlier this year following a three-day special leadership meeting of Dehcho First Nations in Fort Simpson.
After the session concluded, Norwegian issued a news release Feb. 6 accusing the GNWT of bullying DFN by instructing its negotiator to walk away from the table.
McLeod denied that it in the assembly when asked about the issue by Deh Cho MLA Michael Nadli.
The MLA, a former Dehcho grand chief, called the state of negotiations "appalling."
Norwegian said DFN leaders are all in agreement on its position that the GNWT's offer was "ludicrous," but that the First Nation wanted negotiations to continue.
To that end, DFN leaders went to Yellowknife the following week. They sought a meeting with the premier to get beyond the impasse.
Following the February meeting, he struck a more upbeat tone in an interview with News/North.
"The last thing we want to do is stay on our side of the river and continue with the rhetorical bombardment, which is something we don't normally like doing," he said at the time.
That short meeting with the premier ended with the parties agreeing to come back to the table, Norwegian said.
Yet on March 4 Norwegian issued another news release stating "GNWT has threatened to terminate the Dehcho Process if the DFN do not accept their-take-it-or-leave it offer on land ownership by April 6."
The news release said DFN rejected the offer and would not back down in the face of an ultimatum.
Norwegian suggested a mediator be brought in, as allowed under the Dehcho Framework Agreement signed in 2001 that set the stage for agreement-in-principle negotiations.
He said DFN is planning to visit communities in the region to explain its position and "rally the troops."
"We wanted to give out the facts and tell them the reason we're in the situation," Norwegian said.
The GNWT also is seeking to hold meetings in Deh Cho communities, according to the ad purchased by the government.
It's not yet clear when such meetings will be held.
In the days after the news release, both Nadli and Nahendeh MLA Kevin Menicoche have repeatedly questioned the premier about the status of negotiations and whether mediation was being considered.
"The member is questioning on behalf of the Dehcho First Nations brings to mind the old fable of ... the boy who cried wolf," McLeod said in response to Menicoche.
"The Government of the Northwest Territories has never left the table. We’ve never said we would not negotiate. We are prepared to negotiate.
"The Dehcho First Nations has gone through great contortions to show otherwise. Their legal counsel has written to us and said they absolutely reject our latest offer. Their legal counsel has written to us and threatened to take us to court, and we’re prepared to negotiate and always have been."
Through all of this Norwegian has said his goal is to achieve the best deal possible for Dehcho members.
"I've been in this business for a long time. Any time the Dehcho has taken these kind of extreme actions, we always come out ahead," he said.
McLeod said the tactics used by DFN over the past few weeks is a distraction.
"I don't think they're very helpful," he said.
