Katie May
Northern News Services
Published Monday, Friday, June 27, 2008

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Ndilo residents may soon have their streets paved if the Yellowknives Dene First Nation and the City of Yellowknife follow through on a plan to work together and get the job done.

Dene First Nation office CEO John Carter told city council at its June 24 meeting the band council is prepared to compromise with city officials to work out a deal

Roads in Ndilo have gone unpaved because the city has considered Ndilo to be a separate jurisdiction. Yet the GNWT provides $140,000 to the city on Ndilo's behalf, considering them as one, which Carter referred to as a "ping pong ball" effect.

"The band is paying the price for Ndilo being neither fish nor foul," Carter said after the meeting.

"As soon as you cross over the boundary of Ndilo you're into the third world."

He said the band hopes to remove some of that confusion by giving Ndilo roads to the city as long as doing so won't interfere with the Yellowknives Dene's ongoing land claims.

"We are committed to getting this project done.

"The band council is prepared to turn the roads over to the city if the legal opinion says that there is no problem," he said, adding that many First Nations bands down south don't retain full ownership of their roads.

"This is not a responsibility the band wants. We don't have the money."

Carter asked that the city cover the full cost of paving, which he estimates would be around $1.5 million, with new federal infrastructure money.

The GNWT will receive more than $25 million a year until 2014 as part of the Building Canada plan, and a portion of those funds will go to the city.

"We hope that the city will see it in their heart to take part of that ... and put it into the Ndilo paving project."

If it's not possible for the city to foot the entire bill, Carter said the band will put up $375,000, a quarter of the paving cost and a "huge" amount for the band to afford

Carter said he's optimistic that both sides can work together. He expects to pass a formal written proposal through band council next week that they can then present to the city for approval.

"The goodwill is there and if we can get our good friends at INAC (Indian and Northern Affairs Canada) and GNWT to belly up to the bar with us, in a couple of years we could be looking at paved roads in Ndilo."

Mayor Gord Van Tighem said after the meeting the issue of title ownership to Ndilo roads was "one of the stumbling blocks" to paving there. Now, he said, the city has a land survey of the roads in Ndilo so it can work paving into the upcoming municipal budget.

"It sounds like everybody's moving in the same direction," said Van Tighem.

"It's a work in progress."