Features

 Front Page
 News Desk
 News Briefs
 News Summaries
 Columnists
 Sports
 Editorial
 Arctic arts
 Readers comment
 Find a job
 Tenders
 Classifieds
 Subscriptions
 Market reports
 Handy Links
 Best of Bush
 Visitors guides
 Obituaries
 Feature Issues
 Advertising
 Contacts
 Today's weather
 Leave a message


SSISearch NNSL
 www.SSIMIcro.com

NNSL Photo/Graphic



SSIMicro

NNSL Logo.

Home page text size buttonsbigger textsmall text Text size Email this articleE-mail this page

Three bands fight for the same land

Roxanna Thompson
Northern News Services
Published Thursday, July 9, 2009

ACHO DENE KOE/FORT LIARD - Acho Dene Koe First Nation's land claim and self-government negotiations are causing considerable concern for their closest neighbors.

The traditional lands of Acho Dene Koe (ADK), the Nahanni Butte Dene Band and the Sambaa K'e First Nation of Trout Lake overlap.

On June 17 the bands started preliminary discussions on how to address the issue.

At a meeting in Trout Lake the three bands planned how to approach and organize the negotiations on the boundary issue.

A similar meeting is scheduled for the third week of August in Nahanni Butte.

It's very important the discussions are done properly, said Chief Dolphus Jumbo of Trout Lake.

"The land is sacred and very sensitive to us," he said.

Jumbo said his community members are very concerned about the overlap issue.

"We're a people of the land. We live by the land. The land is part of our life," he said.

The land doesn't belong to any of the three communities, said Jumbo.

"It's ours together as first nations," he said.

Jumbo feels ADK has started the talks the wrong way. The communities should go to each other if they need to speak about the land, he said.

Jumbo said he's disappointed that ADK signed a framework agreement with the territorial and federal governments, people who don't live on the land, and then came to their neighbors. ADK is pressing Trout Lake and Nahanni Butte to come and talk about this emotional issue "over a cup of tea," said Jumbo.

"We're way beyond that now."

Chief Fred Tesou of Nahanni Butte has similar feelings.

"People in Nahanni are scared," he said.

The boundary of what ADK is claiming as their traditional land lies right beside the community and encompasses part of Nahanni Butte's traditional land, Tesou said.

Tesou agrees with Jumbo that ADK should have talked in person with their neighbors first.

"Now they want to talk about trust and there's no trust there," he said.

Nahanni Butte along with the rest of the Dehcho First Nations was caught by surprised by ADK's announcement that it was negotiating its own agreement, Tesou said.

Nahanni Butte and Trout Lake have agreed to negotiate as a unit on this matter. Their team includes three members from each community and one facilitator.

In Fort Liard Chief Steve Kotchea said that the framework agreement signed on July 14, 2008 shouldn't have been a surprise for anyone.

Kotchea points to a resolution that was passed in May 2000 at a Dehcho First Nations' spring leadership meeting.

The resolution gives the chief of ADK permission to represent ADK in negotiations on trans-boundary claims. Kotchea argues this also applies within the territory.

As for the overlapping traditional land, Kotchea said ADK doesn't want to create any divisions between the communities which are neighbours and have inter-related families.

"We want to keep this a mutual as possible," he said.

The land has been shared for thousands of years and residents of Trout Lake or Nahanni Butte won't be cut off from the land that ADK might get jurisdiction over through an agreement, Kotchea said.

"We want to have a written agreement saying we will share the land as long as people are using it," he said.

The chief negotiators for both the federal and territorial governments stated that issues of overlapping traditional land are best dealt with by the bands involved.

The federal government is ready to offer a facilitator if it becomes necessary, said Tim Christian, chief federal negotiator.

"We hope they're able to do it on their own," Christian said.