Western constitution chugging along
| FACT FILE: GROUND COVERED |
| Public meetings |
| Fort Smith, Inuvik, Aklavik, Fort McPherson, Tuktoyaktuk, Holman |
| Information meetings |
| Norman Wells, Fort Good Hope, Colville Lake, Deline, Kakisa, Enterprise, Hay River, Fort Smith, Inuvik, Aklavik, Tsiighetchic, Tuktoyaktuk, Paulatuk, Sachs Harbour |
| Workshops |
| Yellowknife, Ndilo, Edzo (students) Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce |
Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services
NNSL (Jul 20/98) - The epic journey toward a new western constitution, now in its 16th year, just covered the ground that will, this year or next, be least affected by the new document.
The Inuvialuit have a settled land claim and, together with their Gwich'in neighbors to the south, self-government is only a year or two away.
But constitutional working group official Sandra Dolan says education and consultation meetings held last week in Inuvialuit communities were a success.
"There's been really good attendance and good interest," said Dolan, reached in Holman Friday.
Dolan reported the group had held a public meeting there the day before, with about 25 people in attendance, including hamlet and Inuvialuit Regional Corporation representatives.
The tour of western communities has two purposes. The first is to educate people about the process. As Dolan explained, "You can't expect people to feed back to you until they understand the process."
The second purpose is to gather input. Dolan said all comments from the public are being recorded. Some will be included in a newspaper insert, to be released in the coming weeks and designed to update people on the process.
While the meeting was being held in Holman, constitutional co-chair Jim Antoine was urging change in Lutselk'e.
"This chance may never come again," Antoine told the Akaitcho Territory Assembly. "If we all don't get involved, the existing structure of government will continue."
The existing structure, said Antoine, includes filtering all federal money for aboriginal people through the GNWT.
However, that will change regardless of the outcome of the constitutional debate. Self-government arrangements now under negotiation will link aboriginal organizations directly to the federal government.
And that link, at least in the south Mackenzie, is far more important than the tie to the territorial public government.
And even if there is interest in the Northern part of the new territory, the Mackenzie Valley is proving a much tougher sell.
In his address, Antoine acknowledged that the Sahtu leadership has said it has no interest in constitutional talks while negotiating self-government.
The Deh Cho has been delivering the same message for more than a year.
Though consultative meetings on the constitution have been held in the Sahtu, the Deh Cho remains untouched.
