Thorunn Howatt
Northern News Services

Fort Liard (Oct 08/01) - Elder Stanley Bertrand was flown out of Fisherman's Lake when Acho Dene Koe band council members in Fort Liard decided it was time to sign an agreement dealing with pipeline ownership and land access.

Fort Liard elder Stanley Bertrand signs a band council resolution last week supporting the next business step to building a Mackenzie Valley natural gas pipeline. T. - Thorunn Howatt/NNSL photo

He was working on moosemeat, drying it to bring home for the winter.

"The wind blew up and he couldn't get out. So we had to chopper him in," said NWT Community Mobilization's Barb Brown.

The memorandum of understanding, drafted last June, is an agreement between the regions involved with the Aboriginal Pipeline Group and the Mackenzie Delta Producers Group. The band council wanted Bertrand's signature on a resolution supporting the memorandum.

"It is very important to the people of the community for the present and the future," Bertrand said through his interpreter, daughter Lisa.

Sitting on a bench overlooking construction on Fort Liard's new pool, Bertrand and Lisa enjoyed one of autumn's last brisk but sunny late afternoons.

"When I was younger I had to struggle for money. Since oil and gas, there are things here for young people. There are jobs."

Bertrand said he missed going to school, learning how to read or write and speaking English. If he has his say things will be different for his daughter Lisa.

"Despite no English or writing, I'm speaking for all the community."

The Aboriginal Pipeline Group and oil companies want to build a natural gas pipeline from the Mackenzie Delta to Alberta following the Mackenzie Valley.

Chief Judy Kotchea said if the band is going to have a stake in the pipeline then it must move forward. "We want our people, especially our young people to have long-term benefits," said Chief Judy Kotchea.

Kotchea cut short a vacation in the south, racing home to sign the documents. "The time is right," she said.

"I believe that everyone is going to sign up sooner or later," said Honorary Chief Harry Deneron referring to the Deh Cho region's refusal to sign the memorandum. Last month at an assembly meeting in Wrigley, Deh Cho groups wouldn't sign the document. Instead they put forward a resolution covering economic and environmental policies. The Deh Cho region does not have a settled land claim.

Deneron remembers

Berger Inquiry

"We couldn't compromise to make our future work," said Deneron as he reminded everyone in the Fort Liard community hall about a proposed pipeline that was scrapped 26 years ago after the Berger Inquiry.

The pipeline is a business prospect for five of the six aboriginal regions that have signed the memorandum, "And yet I believe there is a small group of people who want to use this for a land claim," said Deneron. "I hope we don't get caught up in the politics.

Oil producers won't sign

But the leaders in the Deh Cho aren't the only ones who won't put pen to paper. The four companies making up the producers group, Conoco, ExxonMobil, Imperial Oil and Shell, have not committed either.

"At this time we are trying to get a better understanding of the implications of the resolution passed at Wrigley," said producer group spokesperson Hart Searle.

"We don't believe it is proper for us to take a position with respect to matters that are being negotiated under the Deh Cho process." said Searle.

The group is seeking clarification of the resolution.

"We need to do that within the broader understanding of where the Deh Cho people are and the federal government."

The four producer companies have been meeting together and with the federal government about the implications of the resolution.

"It raises some issues for us that we just need to get a better handle on," said Searle. "It seems to involve some important issues in respect to jurisdiction and we believe that those are matters between the Deh Cho First Nations and the federal government."

Development good for children

Richard Nerysoo chairs NWT Community Mobilization, a group formed to help out communities affected by development and financially supported by government and industry. He referred to Chief Julius of Fort McPherson, who wanted a school built for the children in the community.

"It is no different for the elders here," Nerysoo said as he glanced over to Stanley Bertrand.

"Development is happening. We cannot stop it just because we cannot understand it," said Bertrand.