Jennifer McPhee
Northern News Services

Snowdrift (Oct 07/02) - Establishing a national park on the east arm of Great Slave Lake could benefit Lutsel K'e, says the community's entitlement negotiator, James Marlowe.

But the federal government must hand over complete control of the park and not infringe on treaty and aboriginal rights, he said.

Prime Minister Jean Chretien announced plans Thursday to create 10 new national parks across Canada in the next five years. One of the parks lies on the east arm of Great Slave Lake. Two others are located in Nunavut.

Marlowe said the band has met with a parks representative. Now the band will hold a community meeting and seek approval from First Nations members and come up with a budget for further negotiations.

Elders in the community are wary of turning traditional hunting lands into a national park because they've heard stories that hunting rights were eroded as a result of national parks in other regions.

"We don't want that to happen here. We want to be owners and co-managers.

"The federal government must respect our Dene laws because that park is on traditional territory."

The park will also bring an influx of people to the community, Marlowe said.

"There's going to be problems arising because of that. Destruction of land, garbage. We want to address this during our negotiations."

"Not all parks are bad," he continued.

"There are benefits, there are good stories of bringing dollars into the community and training for members. Hopefully, we'll jump on the positive side of establishing a park."

Nunavut's new parks are Ukkusiksalik Park near Repulse Bay and Bathurst Island Park near Resolute.

Ukkusiksalik represents the Central Tundra Natural Regions and spans about 23,500 square kilometres.

Northern Bathurst Island lies in the Western High Arctic Natural Region and is home to Peary caribou, an endangered species only found in Canada's Arctic islands.

The Inuit Impact and Benefits Agreement sets out conditions for creating parks in Nunavut.