Andrew Raven
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Nov 16/05) - The Yellowknives Dene are threatening a lawsuit to block the extension of power lines to Cassidy Point, a small community 15-kilometres north of Yellowknife.

About 20 members of the First Nation attended a Public Utilities Board meeting Monday to protest a plan that would take electricity to 17 homes.

"We do not view any of those lands as legitimate," said Chief Fred Sangris, who called the non-aboriginal homeowners "squatters."

"We have not given them up."

The threat is the latest public manoeuvre in a battle over the cabin-dotted lands along Highway 4, which the Dene call part of their ancestral home.

The First Nation is negotiating with the federal and territorial governments on a land claim and self-government pact.

Until those talks are complete, Sangris threatened to block all development that is not approved by the Yellowknives Dene.

"These lands are at the heart of our negotiations," Sangris said.

"The Crown and territorial government must accommodate (our) rights."

Most of the 26 residents at Cassidy Point power their homes with gas generators, something that has become costly with the high price of fossil fuels.

Northland Utilities, which provides power to the capital, has an application before the utilities board to build 4.1 km of power lines to the Prosperous lake community.

The $175,000 project would require the company clear brush along Highway 4 and the dirt access road into Cassidy Point, said Northland manager Jerome Babyn.

Seventeen of the 26 residents have expressed an interest in the line, Babyn said. They would share the cost of the extension, which comes to about $8,000 per home, he said.

Meanwhile, residents at Cassidy Point are left pondering more winters with their gas generators.

"It would be nice to be connected to the line, which I can see from my house," said Kevin Dunn, who has lived at Cassidy point for six months.

"It would also be much friendlier to the environment," Dunn said.