Fort Resolution (Aug 28/06) - A deal to compensate Fort Resolution for hosting captive bison for a decade has still not been finalized.

Chief Robert Sayine of the Deninu Ku'e First Nation (DKFN) said the band is prepared to accept the government's offer of $400,000.

"We say we'll accept the offer they made to us and they'll do the clean-up," Sayine said, noting the compensation amount is the GNWT's limit.

However, the Fort Resolution Metis Council is saying no to the government offer.

"We want the territorial government to give us a better offer," said Lloyd Cardinal, president of the Metis Council, without revealing what an acceptable figure would be.

"What they're offering us is nothing compared to what we've done for the herd," he added.

Cardinal noted when the DKFN and the Metis first discussed compensation with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in March.

The community had a much higher figure in mind: $3.6 million.

The Metis president said the community helped keep the project going over the years - up to the final slaughter earlier this year - by helping to feed and monitor the herd and by providing equipment.

"The community took care of the whole project."

The last talks with the government on the issue were in April. Judy McLinton, a spokesperson for the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, declined to confirm any of the details of the offer.

"We're just waiting for the community to come back with a unified position," she said, noting the offer was made in late spring.

Negotiations between the GNWT and the community are over, she added.

The GNWT established the herd in 1996 to preserve a bison population free of tuberculosis and brucellosis in the South Slave.

The herd of about 130 animals was held in a corral on the edge of Fort Resolution.

The last of the bison were shipped to Alberta for slaughter in March after tuberculosis was discovered last year.

McLinton said the government plans to move forward with the remediation of the site.

"That's separate from the compensation."

Over the years, the territorial government spent $3 million on the project, which involved getting animals from the Hook Lake area.

Before tuberculosis was discovered, the GNWT was planning to wrap up the project since no federal funding was available to keep it going.