Fort Simpson (Apr 11/03) - Future oil and gas or mining projects in the Deh Cho, outside of Fort Liard, are going to require consensus among the affected communities.

So says Michael Nadli, grand chief of the Deh Cho First Nations (DCFN).

Michael Nadli

"Resource development, on a major scale in the region, would affect every community," Nadli said.

"They (individual First Nations) can't necessarily make unilateral decisions. It needs to go through the entire leadership."

Tim Lennie and Fred Norwegian, two Deh Cho chiefs, said they agree with that principle.

Lennie, chief of the Pehdzeh Ki First Nation in Wrigley, said harvesters must also be consulted before a project gets the green light.

"The project doesn't happen until the First Nations agree," said Lennie.

As for the division of royalties, Nadli said, aboriginal leadership must create an accountable body to receive those funds from the federal government.

That money, if accessed, would be designated strictly for economic development purposes, he added.

First Nations delegates have talked of sharing royalties based partially on the percentage of traditional lands that a project occupies.

That, however, may raise the sensitive issue of defining boundaries among First Nations.

Nadli advised against drawing lines.

"We need to learn from the recent ADK (Acho Dene Koe) experience. They essentially wanted to have exclusive control of their traditional lands so they basically fenced themselves in in the absolute corner of the Northwest Territories," Nadli said.

"Every community in this region is not going to have potential natural resources contained in their sub-surface land.

This is what I told our chiefs: What if there's no major finds of natural resources within your communities traditional lands? Then you've locked yourselves in."