Derek Neary
Northern News Services

Hay River (Apr 26/02) - Self-government negotiations in the Deh Cho have been halted by a Hay River Reserve court action.

A scheduled negotiations session on April 15 was postponed due to a federal policy that prohibits negotiations when a legal challenge has been mounted against a subject matter on the negotiations table.

The K'atlodehchee First Nation has filed a statement of claim challenging the Canada Labour Relations code because workers at the Nats' Ejee K'eh treatment centre were trying to organize under a federal union.

The reserve is claiming that the federal labour relations code does not apply on Treaty 8 lands.

Federal negotiator Robin Aitken said the Canadian government is examining the implications of the litigation.

Chris Reid, chief negotiator for the DCFN, argued that federal negotiators could simply refuse to negotiate labour relations while litigation is underway, but could proceed with the remainder of negotiations topics.

Aitken refused to respond to that suggestion.

As another option, Reid said the reserve could choose to withdraw from DCFN self-government negotiations. There's also the possibility that the reserve could suspend the legal challenge or narrow their statement of claim.

"At the moment it's out of our hands. It's kind of frustrating that the feds have this policy," said Reid.

Nevertheless, he said he's optimistic a solution will be found. "I think both sides want to continue negotiating," he said.