Chief Michael Nadli

Grand Chief Michael Nadli said the DCFN regional office has been inundated with applications and it doesn't have the capacity to adequately scrutinize them.

"We're responding to them in a knee-jerk fashion. That shouldn't be, because a key provision in our IMA (Interim Measures Agreement) was the land and water panel," Nadli said in an interview on Tuesday.

"The point is that the federal government is dragging their ass."

He is blaming the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (DIAND) and the Mackenzie Land and Water Board (MVLWB) for the lack of movement.

There have been an abundance of applications relating to oil and gas work in the Fort Liard and Cameron Hills areas over the past few weeks, Nadli noted. In addition, there are many projects related to preliminary Mackenzie Valley pipeline work to assess.

Without a panel to review these applications, the DCFN is going to simply mark them "no community support" and return them, Nadli warned.

He acknowledged that such a move will hinder economic development opportunities, but he said it is necessary.

In a strongly worded letter to DIAND and the MVLWB on Nov. 29, Nadli states that the Interim Measures Agreement, signed 18 months ago, provides for a Deh Cho land and water panel.

Furthermore, the Deh Cho's nominee for appointment to the Land and Water Board, submitted 14 months ago, hasn't elicited a response, he added.

"At the negotiating table we've been raising the hammer on this issue for some time," Nadli said.

"The feds are just notorious in terms of follow-up ... notorious."

In the letter, he added that Deh Cho leaders will have to review whether the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act should be applicable to the Deh Cho region. As an alternative, Nadli is espousing a home-grown Deh Cho Resource Management Authority, a concept the government has already turned down as an interim measure.

"Internally we could make it work," Nadli said.

"This is what happens when First Nations assert their rights, their ideas -- the government rejects them."

The Drum's calls to the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board and to DIAND's offices in Ottawa were not returned prior to press deadline.