Yellowknife (Feb 14/05) - Hundreds of Dogrib packed the Yellowknife Airport Friday night, waving banners, snapping pictures and jumping into an impromptu tea dance to celebrate the passing of the Tlicho land claims and self government agreement.

The revellers welcomed home a huge delegation that travelled to Ottawa last week to watch first hand as the last steps were taken to make the "historic" agreement official.

The document passed third reading in the Senate and then received royal assent from Governor General Adrienne Clarkson.

"We have waited a long time for this," said Alex Nitsiza, visiting Yellowknife from Wha Ti. "There are a lot of happy people right now."

Negotiations on the Tlicho agreement, hailed as the first deal to combine both land claims and self government, began more than a decade ago.

The unprecedented agreement will give a Dogrib government control of thousands of hectares of land in the North Slave.

Social services, including health and education, will also eventually fall under control of the Tlicho, who are based in the communities of Rae-Edzo, Gameti, Wekweti and Wha Ti.

"It is the best agreement in Canada," said Assembly of First Nations vice chief Bill Erasmus, who was among those celebrating the agreement.

"And it is just beginning to sink in now."

The Yellowknife Airport was packed to the gills with nearly 350 people of all ages who cheered their leaders as they disembarked from the plane.

Elders held banners commemorating the signing of Dogrib Treaty 11 in 1921 -- the precursor of the Tlicho Agreement -- while teenagers snapped pictures with digital cameras.

Several news cameras surrounded Tlicho's chief negotiator John B. Zoe, who said the deal represented the culmination of years of difficult negotiations. Others in the crowd were also happy the bill -- which received approval from the House of Commons in December -- was finally law.

"I am extremely elated," said April Bekale, as she held her month-old nephew Jazy Wetrade.

"It has been a long time coming," said Jimmy Rabesca. "I am just happy this day has finally come."

Revellers,, including Western Arctic MP Ethel Blondin-Andrew, joined in a tea dance that wound its way through the lobby of the airport to cheers and traditional Dogrib chants.

"My people are so happy," said North Slave MLA Henry Zoe, pointing to his heart. "You can feel it right here."

With the agreement finally in place, the long and complicated process of transferring power from the territorial and federal governments to the Tlicho can now get underway.

"This is just the beginning," Henry Zoe cautioned. "We have an implementation book that is this thick," he added, holding his fingers four inches apart. "We still have a lot of work ahead of us."