Chief challenges premier to debate
Meagan Leonard
Northern News Services
Monday, March 23, 2015
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Dehcho First Nations grand chief Herb Norwegian has challenged Premier Bob McLeod to a public debate this week in Fort Providence.
In a news release issued March 19, Norwegian stated he had been given a "take-it-or-leave-it" offer by the GNWT and informed was by McLeod if an ultimatum was not agreed to by April 6, the process would be terminated.
In an interview with News/North, Norwegian said he is simply seeking the same consideration given to the Tlicho in its agreement reached in 2001, which established a land base of approximately 39,000 square kilometres. He says because the Dehcho population is larger than the Tlicho their starting offer is just over 44,000 square kilometres. However, he says the GNWT has not budged.
"The offer is way below what everyone else has got," said the grand chief.
In an e-mail statement, McLeod responded to the release stating he would be unavailable to attend the forum in Fort Providence but urged the Dehcho to reconsider the tabled offer.
"We have made a generous offer to (Dehcho First Nations) that is consistent with previously settled claims throughout the NWT and encourage them to consider it," he said.
"Details of that offer have been made public in the interests of clearing up confusion and misinformation about the GNWT offer, but we believe negotiations should be conducted in a forum specifically intended for that purpose."
Norwegian says he is not concerned about losing resource royalties if an agreement is not reached.
"They've got deadlines coming out of their yin yang but we're standing firm," he said. "These deadlines and the money part of it is not something that we're excited about right now ... I think we have to deal with the land issue and get some resolution with it.
"We were shackled, they put us in the corner and then they started putting the screws to us slowly, so we're wanting to have a public discussion so we can clarify the issues."
"We want the public to be the judge."
