by Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services

NNSL (Oct 06/97) - With slightly unkempt hair, casual dress and personable manner, Bob Overvold does not seem a likely candidate for one of the most powerful bureaucratic positions in the North.

He looks around his large office and confesses he feels a little guilty having so much space when the 194 people working for him are suffering for a lack of it.

Overvold has lived and breathed land claim negotiations, the move toward self government and aboriginal-government relations for more than 20 years.

Last month he began a three-year term as the NWT regional director general for the department of Indian affairs and northern development (DIAND). He is the first northerner, and first aboriginal, to hold that position.

The move is part of an exchange program between the GNWT and the federal government, designed to foster a better working relationship between the two.

"It's been an eye-opener," he said of his new role. "When you're on the other side, it's so easy to fed bash. I'm beginning to see this is a top of the line organization."

Overvold said his rise in the highly political world of aboriginal-government politics has had little to do with his politics.

"I'd like to think its because of the consistency in the approach I've taken, a consistency in what I believe in when I talk about what land claims are all about," he said.

And hard work. Overvold said his work days generally start at 7:30 a.m. and last 10 to 11 hours.

Overvold has thrived through changes in government and, as a negotiator, been successful in bringing together aboriginal groups with competing interests.

"I always try to be very open, very transparent," said Overvold. "I don't like to play games."

Born in Tulita -- then known as Fort Norman -- he was one of seven children. When Overvold was seven his father was killed in an accident, forcing a temporary split in the family.

His mother, with his sisters, went to Fort Resolution. Overvold spent two years at residential school in Aklavik before being reunited with his mother.

"When you're out on your own you either sink or swim," he said. "I guess I've been independent from an early age and recognized that the key to succeeding was education."

Overvold graduated from the University of Alberta with a degree in education. But teaching, he found, was not for him.

"At the start I liked it, but near the end of my fourth year teaching I knew it wasn't for me," said Overvold. "I liked the kids, but I didn't like the confinement of being in a classroom all the time."

The decision to make a change was cemented when Overvold was offered a job as executive director of the Metis Association of the NWT.

He went on to a succession of progressively demanding jobs in land claim negotiations. His last six years have been spent as deputy minister of aboriginal affairs for the GNWT, where he will return after his term with DIAND is up.