SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Mayor Gord Van Tighem says the city is working towards a plan to pave roads in Ndilo.

This comes following a day of protest where Ndilo residents erected a blockade and asked for donations from people entering the community last Thursday. People in Ndilo say they are fed up with the dust and dirt while elsewhere in Yellowknife the roads are paved.

Dene national chief Bill Erasmus stops a vehicle headed into Ndilo to give information about the lack of paving on the streets in the community and to ask for a donation. - Cara Loverock/NNSL photo

Van Tighem said the first step, however, must be taken by the Yellowknives Dene First Nation who govern Ndilo.

He said the city met with the Yellowknives Dene administration four years ago and told them they needed to authorize a legal survey of the roads in order to have them paved.

"Once we identify where the roads legally exist we can then start planning on the possibility of getting them paved," said Van Tighem from Quebec City, where he is attending a Federation of Canadian Municipalities conference.

"We have never said we won't pave the roads," he said.

"Indeed, the work towards that is in progress.

"We're working to develop a plan but everybody's got to do something. Like, there needs to be a survey done, there needs to be engineering done."

Unlike property owners in Yellowknife, Ndilo residents don't pay property taxes. Municipal services, such as snow clearing and ambulance service, is paid for by a federal grant given to the city - estimated at $400,000 a year.

During Thursday's demonstration, which was part of a "national day of protest" held by First Nation groups across the country, Ndilo residents put up a blockade between Ndilo and Otto Drive on Latham Island with a large sign reading "Pave our Roads."

During the blockade, Dene National Chief Bill Erasmus handed out pamphlets and accepted donations from those entering Ndilo in attempt to shame the city into paving the roads and raise a little money towards that end.

Earlier in the day more than 100 people, both aboriginal and non-aboriginal, marched through downtown with signs and chanted slogans like "Stop Metis oppression."

The crowd streamed down Franklin Avenue and into Somba K'e Park where speeches were given by aboriginal leaders.

Addressing the crowd, Erasmus said the rally was to bring attention to "the government's attitude toward First Nations people."

Rally participants shouted "Shame" when Erasmus spoke of Canada's rejection of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People.

Erasmus also said the recently released territorial government budget offered "very little for aboriginal people."

He did thank Premier Floyd Roland for his support for the National Day of Action, however.

In a press release Roland encouraged Northerners to use the day as an opportunity to learn about the challenges facing aboriginal communities.

There was also plenty said at Somba K'e Park about the condition of Ndilo's roads.

"As soon as you enter Ndilo the pavement stops. Why is that?" said Chief Eddie Sangris of Dettah, also a Yellowknives community.

"Why are we being treated differently?"

"We have no paved roads. It's very, very difficult sometimes," said Angela James, principal of Ndilo's K'alemi Dene school.

Erasmus also encouraged the crowd to call city hall about the roads in Ndilo and to head there from Somba K'e park to take part in the blockade action.

On Friday, Ndilo resident Roy Erasmus said those who participated in the roadblock into Ndilo raised roughly $340 in a little over an hour.

Asked if there would be a permanent toll put in place he said, "I really don't know."

Ndilo chief Fred Sangris indicated on Wednesday that a toll at Ndilo may remain until enough money is collected to pave the roads.

Roy Erasmus said the city had not been in touch with him or any other Ndilo community leaders as far as he was aware.

"We're not just going to let it lay because it's been an ongoing issue for many, many years," he said.