Lynn Lau
Northern News Services

Hay River Reserve (July 13/01) - The second phase of negotiations began Monday on what the Deh Cho First Nations hope will ultimately lead to something like a separate Deh Cho province.

Negotiators from the Deh Cho First Nations met with federal representatives June 9-11 at the Chief Lamalise Complex on the Hay River Reserve to lay down their proposals for lands jurisdiction, and interim measures for development and natural resources revenue.

The Deh Cho First Nations represents 10 Dene member bands and three Metis locals with claims to traditional lands from Fort Liard in the south to Wrigley in the north, and east from the Yukon border to Enterprise and Hay River.

"We want jurisdiction over the entire area, Dene and non-Dene," said Chris Reid, Deh Cho's chief negotiator, explaining the vision of a Deh Cho government with powers comparable to those of a provincial government.

"The Deh Cho government will be the primary government in the region and it will be a public government. We're not interested in being a municipal government under the territorial government," said Reid.

Negotiators are currently working toward two agreements: the first would designate claimed lands and the second would guide how those lands are used in the period before the final agreement is reached. These two agreements are expected to be in place in a year, with the final self-government agreement expected in five to seven years.

The federal response to the latest proposals were lukewarm, with federal chief negotiator Robin Aitken flagging some of the more unconventional proposals as unlikely to be agreed upon.

One proposal was a request for Canada to refuse companies their development permits until all affected communities have finished negotiating impact benefit agreements with the companies.

Aitken also said the federal government does not support the creation of another province or territory.

"We're quite far apart in a number of issues, which shouldn't come to a surprise," said Aitken.

Part of the interim land-use discussion concerned the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline proposal. Reid outlined conditions the DCFN want to see in place before they approve of the pipeline development:

-full participation in environmental assessment

-right to charge access fees for right-of-way through DCFN lands

-a share of royalties and other revenues arising from the oil and gas development in the Deh Cho

-a promise that the pipeline would not go ahead until community impact agreements are negotiated

There were some signs of disunity among the member communities. The Acho Dene Koe (Fort Liard) brought up their ongoing concern about how sharing resources revenue with Canada would affect their claim to oil reserves from their traditional lands.

"Our preference is to negotiate directly with the government of Canada but Canada wanted to do one treaty in the territories," said Robert Reiter, a lawyer for the Acho Dene Koe. He said the band is not interested in having royalties from oil and gas on their claimed lands go toward the common Deh Cho pot. "My clients will not do a treaty if this becomes a communal land for everyone in the Deh Cho."

The Katlodeeche First Nation (Hay River) raised their concern over how the Deh Cho process would affect the boundaries of their reserve and their attempts to have other land claim issues addressed. Hay River is the only member community that has a reserve.

"There was an understanding that we wouldn't have to let go of the reserve in this process," said Roy Fabian, spokesperson for the Lands and Treaty Working Group of the Katlodeeche First Nation.

Fabian said his group would be watching the Deh Cho process to assess if the community would be better off negotiating in the group or alone.