Nathan VanderKlippe
Northern News Services

Inuvik (Sep 30/02) - Negotiators on the transfer of province-like powers to the NWT are hoping to have some form of an agreement complete within a year.

"We feel a little bit pressed for time so we'd like to conclude something as quickly as we can," said Hal Gerein, chief negotiator for the GNWT on devolution talks.

The federal government was late on its promise to name a negotiator by March 31, delaying the process by a number of months.

Three sets of negotiators met for the first time last week in Inuvik, sitting down to a working dinner on Wednesday evening and setting down schedules for talks during a three-hour session on Thursday morning.

At the table were Gerein, aboriginal groups lead negotiator Bob Simpson and federal chief negotiator David Peterson.

Negotiators identified some of the major issues for discussion, including contaminated sites, human resources and governance issues.

"We basically went down the list and tried to make progress on each one and talk about how to advance them," said Gerein.

They also decided to hold the first negotiation talks in the first week in November.

After that, negotiators plan to meet once a month, and have agreed that at least two-thirds of those meetings will be in the NWT.

"A lot of it is going through the issues and doing some creative thinking about how we're going to tackle each of these issues," said Simpson.

Although the meetings were scheduled as a meet-and-greet, Simpson said, "I think it surprised all of us how much we were able to get done."

Speaking with reporters on Tuesday, Peterson said the federal government is entering negotiations without a bottom line, and is committed to a transfer of governing powers and money.

"It's not a question of dividing up the current economic pie. It's a question of building a larger pie," he said.

Peterson, who toured Yellowknife, Inuvik, Lutsel K'e, Rae and Tulita, warned that negotiations would be difficult and complex.

"There are no guarantees of success here. This is hard and it could break down. But with energy and goodwill it could also move ahead," he said.

A lot of money is riding on the negotiations -- money for the GNWT, but also for negotiators. Negotiators for aboriginal groups are working with a $900,000 annual budget, money which comes from the federal and territorial governments.

The federal government is paying Peterson and his team $669,000 a year for their time, while Simpson and his support staff are working with an $800,000 annual budget.