Dave Sullivan
Northern News Services

Fort Providence (Nov 09/01) - The Deh Cho may allow a pipeline through traditional territory for half of the royalties that go to the government of Canada.

The 50-50 split would be a temporary measure until self-government talks, which would include turning over Crown land and mineral rights, are worked out, chief negotiator Chris Reid told delegates Nov. 6 at a leadership assembly.

The figure is in a proposal for the federal government called an interim resource development agreement.

The amount "seemed reasonable to us," Reid told delegates. He later said it is comparable to a hydro deal worked out between northern Quebec's Cree and that province's government.

The federal government's counter proposal is a one per cent royalty on all gas going through Mackenzie Valley, to be pooled and split among all First Nations, Reid said.

"That would be about $1 to $3 million a year, and some percentage of that would go to the Gwich'in. That's far, far short of what we're proposing," he told the assembly.

"We've got to move the feds away from the position that the Deh Cho will be part of a territory-wide revenue sharing agreement. We've got to get them talking about separate sharing arrangements."

Deh Cho negotiators said they might have a way to do that, but would only discuss it during a rare, closed-door session.

"There is a real dispute over who owns the land," Reid said, regarding federal claims the land belongs to that government for the time being.

The Deh Cho calculate they will derive $2 billion in revenue from a 50-50 royalty split, based on $100 billion worth of gas that could pass through the region during the lifetime of a Mackenzie Valley pipeline.

With 40 per cent of the pipeline going through the Deh Cho area, the First Nations would realize 20 per cent of total royalties. At royalty rates ranging from one to five per cent of gas value, and rising to 30 per cent of net profit after the pipeline is paid for, federal pipeline revenue could be about $25 billion over 20 years. The Deh Cho's share would be $4 billion of that, with half going back into federal coffers.