by Chris Meyers Almey
Northern News Services

NNSL (June 11/97) - The Metis Nation of the NWT wonders what money they are supposed to be hijacking from Yellowknife Metis Local 66.

Executive director Mike Paulette says if Local 66 president Bill Enge is referring to impact benefit money from the BHP diamond mine, the Metis Nation agreed those negotiations could be conducted by the North Slave Metis Alliance, of which Local 66 is a member.

But Enge says the Metis Nation signed an agreement with BHP behind Local 66's back, meddled in a federal government program they were getting job funding from, as well as tried to prevent the North Slave Metis Alliance from advancing their land claim agreement until the South Slave Metis got theirs.

Paulette does note that the Metis Nation is a party to the BHP negotiations, but they haven't gone anywhere.

If the Metis Nation was responsible for the money from BHP, the group has an agreement in place that would more than accommodate the aspirations of all Metis in the North Slave, Paulette says.

At the same time, it would respect the North Slave Metis that have ancestral roots in the area, Paulette says.

That's a bone of contention with Enge. At a tempestuous meeting at the Tree of Peace recently, Enge chastised Metis not indigenous to this area or even the territories for stirring up a ruckus over his leadership.

Since then, on May 28, eight people signed a letter to Enge asking him to strike their names from the 1,000-strong membership of Local 66.

Of the eight, Enge says only one has any claim to BHP money through the North Slave Metis Alliance.

Some come from outside the NWT while two have already got or are entitled to benefit money in other areas of the NWT. Enge says they cannot claim money from two benefit agreements.

The letter of resignation attacks Enge as epitomizing autocratic rule by not respecting or accepting any attempts by Local 66 membership to have direct input into the local.

"The atmosphere you create inhibits your membership from speaking out for fear of reprisal and personal attacks from the board of directors," the eight wrote to Enge and the local's board.

The letter states that the Local 66 executive is in a state of paranoia with the Metis Nation, particularly with president Gary Bohnet.

"It is ironic that you perceive the Metis Nation of behaving like a political bully," it says.

However, Clem Paul, president of the breakaway 500-strong Yellowknives Metis Council, says Local 66 is going through exactly what his group did with the Metis Nation and Bohnet before they left Metis Nation.

Enge says the Metis Nation under the leadership of Bohnet is not working in the best interests of Local 66 or the North Slave Metis as a whole. Bohnet was out of town and could not be reached for comment.

Enge says it was the people who signed the letter of resignation who were the ones that disrupted Local 66's annual general meeting on Dec. 8.

Fifty of the 75 people in attendance at the meeting walked out. Enge says they were disgusted with the antics of people who were behaving badly and they didn't want to deal with it any more.

The board of directors of Local 66 has called a meeting for this Saturday in the Yellowknife public library for 1 p.m.