Derek Neary
Northern News Services

Fort Providence (Apr 12/02) - A snapshot of what a future regional government could look like will begin to emerge next week.

Deh Cho leaders and federal officials are coming together in Fort Simpson for a governance workshop that will explore the role of elders, citizenship and residency requirements and how leaders and representatives will be selected.

"I take the analogy that we're building a strong house," said Herb Norwegian, Deh Cho First Nations' assistant negotiator. "That building should be there for a long, long time. That's basically how I'm explaining it and people understand that."

Peter Russell will be returning to the Deh Cho to lead the four-day seminar. Russell, in the role of ministerial envoy to Jane Stewart, was instrumental in forming the 21 principles with the DCFN in 1998. Norwegian said Russell has earned a great deal of respect here.

"He was seen by our people as someone that understands this stuff," he said. "His credentials are great."

Russell, a professor of Political Science at the University of Toronto, said he's hoping the workshop will encourage all Deh Cho residents to think about what self-government will really mean.

"It isn't negotiating at this stage. The negotiations will come later. The aim is to identify the major questions that have to be resolved and the main alternatives that we have should be thinking about," said Russell. "It's not actually to get it all settled."

Norwegian concurred, adding that a series of governance workshops will likely be held in the months to come.

Other topics that will be discussed next week include how self-government will affect the Town of Hay River and the Village of Fort Simpson. Existing models of aboriginal governance such as those in the Beaufort-Delta, Dogrib, Nisga'a and Nunavik will also be examined.

A regional elders meeting is under way in Fort Simpson this week to prepare for next week's governance workshop.

"It's an opportunity for the elders to get together, put their thinking hats on and sort of give some direction," Norwegian explained. "They are kind of like the foundation to a future blueprint."