Derek Neary
Northern News Services

Fort Liard (June 03/05) - Dehcho First Nations may be prepared to conditionally accept a proposal to end litigation against the federal government and the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board.

The federal government is offering $15 million in economic development funding that would be placed in a trust account.

However, DFN wants a clause removed from the federal proposal that would prevent the First Nations from launching further legal challenges against regulatory boards or federal legislation.

The organization also wants all money from the agreement to be tax exempt.

Contents of the proposal were closely guarded. Media and federal officials were barred from the proceedings at the leadership meeting in Fort Liard May 24-25.

The details only emerged when DFN resolutions pertaining to the proposed settlement were mistakenly faxed to media outlets.

Grand Chief Herb Norwegian insisted that it's not yet a done deal.

"It's not final. Nothing is final," Norwegian said Monday. "This whole thing could collapse tomorrow."

The Deh Cho filed the court challenges last year seeking greater input in an environmental review for a Mackenzie Valley pipeline.

Chief Keyna Norwegian said the government is still refusing to allow DFN to establish its own resource management authority.

The purpose of the litigation was to ensure DFN is treated equally, she contended.

"Sure we could all use the money but in three years the money is all gone and then what?" she asked.

Pierre Collin, communications director for Northern Development Minister Ethel Blondin-Andrew, said the government still won't comment on the tabled litigation settlement due to a non-disclosure agreement.

Elections, elections

Chief Dennis Deneron provoked a chorus of laughter as he announced his intention to not run for chief of Trout Lake's Sambaa K'e Dene band again.

An election has been called for June 15. Deneron has tried to vacate the position in the past, only to have the community's elders insist that he remain chief.

Berna Landry, chief of the Deh Gah Got'ie First Nation in Fort Providence, mentioned a scheduled June 20 trip to the polls in her community. She confirmed that she plans to seek re-election.

Chief Keyna Norwegian suggested that elders could be taken to the Horn Plateau for safety if the avian flu reaches the Deh Cho.

She expressed concern over international news reports of a potential outbreak of the disease.

Norwegian urged her fellow leaders to form some sort of an emergency response plan. Many aboriginal people died due to influenza in the past, she noted.

Awful road

The terrible condition of the Liard Trail was spelled out for Premier Joe Handley and MLAs Kevin Menicoche, Sandy Lee and Calvin Pokiak when they arrived at the meeting on Thursday afternoon.

"You should have drove that highway. It's really, really bad," Keyna Norwegian told the politicians, who flew to the meeting.

Pehdzeh Ki Chief David Moses and staff member Kelly Pennycook told Premier Handley that Wrigley still wants a nurse. Pennycook said Health Minister Michael Miltenberger told him there will be no nurse stationed in Wrigley without police presence.

Handley said the GNWT has been wrestling with how to overcome the RCMP's policy of having at least two police officers in a community, or none at all.

He said a possible solution may be to have one RCMP member and a wildlife officer.

Chief Floyd Bertrand spoke of his frustration with the Acho Dene Koe's ongoing struggle to have its traditional lands in B.C. and the Yukon recognized. Fort Liard trappers want compensation for logging and the emergence of seismic lines, lease sites, roads, oil and gas rigs in places where they used to harvest south of the NWT border, Bertrand said.

The problem has been dragging on for several years and the federal government won't negotiate while Dehcho First Nations has a lawsuit in place, he noted.