Paul Bickford
Northern News Services
Monday, July 30, 2007

DEHCHO - An Alberta First Nation's claim to land in the southern NWT is not going over well with aboriginal leaders north of the border.

"I think it's more of an economic development and resource land grab than anything else," said Chief Lloyd Chicot, of Ka'a'gee Tu First Nation in Kakisa, claiming the main focus is the oil and gas development in the Cameron Hills.

On July 23, the federal government and Dene Tha' First Nation (DTFN) announced a $25-million agreement settling the band's concerns over the Mackenzie Valley gas pipeline crossing its land.

As part of the deal, Ottawa will review a DTFN claim to aboriginal rights and title in the southern NWT.

Chicot said his people are upset by the Dene Tha' claim to traditional land of the Ka'a'gee Tu.

"It hurts a lot of people and angers a lot of people," he said. "We just have to stand our ground and continue to use our land as we have for hundreds of years."

Grand Chief Herb Norwegian said the Dehcho First Nations were "blindsided" by the federal agreement to look at the Dene Tha' claim, especially since the two groups share the same federal negotiator.

Norwegian said the Dehcho recognizes the Dene Tha' have some surface interests, mainly harvesting, north of the border, just like Dehcho people have interests in northern Alberta.

"We've always assumed they've had an interest," he said.

Two years ago, chiefs and elders from both sides of the border signed a memorandum of understanding which acknowledged the interests of each group on the other's land.

"We need to work it out among ourselves," Norwegian said.

The grand chief said the Dene Tha' claim is based on various "little spots" for trap lines and hunting.

A DTFN map of what it claims as its traditional lands shows an area stretching from south of Trout lake in the west to Buffalo Lake in the east.

Chicot said the Dene Tha' use of land north of the border escalated when cutlines were created for oil and gas seismic exploration in the 1950s and 1960s.

"Since then, our relations haven't been that good with the people coming in," he said. "They came in without telling anyone."

Prior to that, relations were good as the Dene Tha' would mainly make social visits and for trade.

Chicot said Ka'a'gee Tu signed the sharing agreement with the Dene Tha' despite suspicions they were after land around Tathlina Lake, south of Kakisa.

"We knew what they were up to, but in the spirit of co-operation we agreed to work with them," he said.

Chicot said the Dene Tha' mainly hunted on the land in the wintertime.

Dene Tha' lawyer Robert Freedman of Victoria, B.C., said the claim is based on historical use of the land that was never protected under Treaty 8 or any other treaty.

Freedman explained that usage includes hunting, fishing and trapping, and occupancy in earlier times.

The First Nation is looking for some decision-making role on the land, he said. "What form is open to discussion."

Freedman said the claim has not yet been accepted by the federal government.

The lawyer added the First Nation decided to formally make its claim after Ottawa said in 2006 that it had no rights at all north of the border.

"At that point, the Dene Tha' thought they should do something more formal to protect their interests," he said.

In 2005, the Dene Tha' went to the Federal Court of Canada to argue they had not been consulted on the Mackenzie Valley gas project. The court ruled in November that DTFN had a constitutional right to be consulted.

"The pipeline is the catalyst in all of this," Norwegian said of the Dene Tha' claim.

The DTFN is divided into three communities in northwestern Alberta - Bushe River, Meander River and Chateh. About 1,800 people live on the reserves and another 600 off reserve.