Dane Gibson
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Dec 06/99) - Akaitcho chiefs say the pending Dogrib land claim threatens their own treaty claim. The solution, they say, is to draw a line on the map to separate the two areas.

"The Dogrib AIP includes a large part of our settlement area. What are we going to negotiate if our land is included in the AIP?" asked Lutsel K'e Chief Felix Lockhart. "If it goes through as proposed, we will be like an invisible entity on our own lands."

But John B. Zoe, the Dogrib chief negotiator, said the Dogrib claim is not a threat to Akaitcho Treaty 8 and the way to settle the boundary issue is through the creation of joint-use areas, not by drawing lines.

"We have this North Slave area where both groups have been occupants since time began. In the early years, the groups went hunting wherever they had to for survival. If you take the extreme ranges of those groups, then there is overlap," said Zoe.

He said the boundary issue isn't just about sustenance hunting, but about jurisdiction, which is what they are discussing.

"Where the area overlaps, I could see a joint-use area developing. Anything beyond that joint-use area would be under the jurisdiction of each prospective group," said Zoe.

"The AIP agreement states that it will not affect any other aboriginal party except the Dogribs. We made sure that was in the agreement."

Meeting with Nault

The four Akaitcho chiefs met with Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (DIAND) Minister Bob Nault, Nov. 25. They told Nault not to approve the Dogrib AIP until the boundary issue is resolved.

Yellowknives Dene (Dettah) Chief Richard Edjericon said: "In the present form, the Dogrib AIP includes most of the Yellowknives Dene territory. That's a clear violation of the present federal government policy on comprehensive claims and it violates the federal government's legal obligation to the Yellowknives Dene." Treaty 8 entitlement co-ordinator, Fred Sangris, said by including their territory in the Dogrib AIP, the government is hoping they will extinguish their treaty rights.

"They are fast-tracking the Dogrib claim and stalling our Treaty 8 claim. It's a federal government strategy to get the Yellowknives into the Dogrib AIP."

Sangris said in the past, there was a verbal agreement on a boundary line based on traditional land use. The line was to start at Boundary Creek, 30 kilometres west of Yellowknife, and extend out to Greenstocking Lake, just east of Snare Lake.

Sangris said if that line was drawn, they would support the Dogrib AIP.

"According to our treaty, we have the right to self-determination and to govern ourselves. Our people gave us the mandate to pursue treaty entitlements and to never extinguish our rights," said Sangris.

Deh Cho overlap

On the other side, the Deh Cho First Nation has been negotiating their own boundary agreement with the Dogrib.

Deh Cho First Nation chief boundary negotiator Herb Norwegian said a final document should be signed within weeks. "At this point, what we're looking at is laying down a process of deciding where our shared-use areas are going to be and generally how they overlap."

"The work we've done is 90 per cent complete, we just have to decide on how to finalize the arrangement."