K'ATLODEECHE/HAY RIVER - Two chiefs - one from Trout Lake and the other from Nahanni Butte - are hopeful a boundary dispute can be settled between their bands and the Acho Dene Koe First Nation (ADK) of Fort Liard.

"I'd like to see it wrapped up as soon as we can," said Chief Dolphus Jumbo of Sambaa K'e Dene Band in Trout Lake. "We've got other things to do, like the Dehcho Process. We really need to focus on that." Jumbo said the dispute can be kept from going to court if negotiations are conducted in good faith.

"It's resolvable," he said.

Chief Fred Tesou of the Nahanni Butte Dene Band also thinks the dispute can be settled outside of court.

He said an agreement can be reached by getting elders and harvesters together to talk about a boundary and where they trap and fish.

"That's the key," he said.

The First Nations in Nahanni Butte and Trout Lake have joined forces to negotiate with ADK. The three bands have overlapping traditional land-use areas, which became the centre of the dispute after ADK signed a framework agreement in 2008 with the federal and territorial governments for its own land claim and self-government negotiations.

The boundary issue was discussed at the Dehcho First Nations leadership meeting held May 12 to 13 on the Hay River Reserve. Peter Redvers, a negotiations facilitator for the Nahanni Butte and Trout Lake bands, said a legal review of the dispute was recently received and is being reviewed.The situation may result in legal action, he said.

"That is something that has been looked into and remains a possibility," said Redvers.

Redvers said both Nahanni Butte and Trout Lake remain "very firm" in not accepting the asserted territory of ADK as its traditional land-use area.In a review of past talks, he said attempts to get elders and harvesters together from both sides have not been successful, largely because of delays by ADK.

Redvers said a letter was also received from ADK Chief Steve Kotchea in April which brought up "very complicated" issues such as shared land, co-management and sharing resource revenue. The negotiator said those issues are usually for treaty negotiations, not talks about a boundary.

A five-page boundary agreement between the Tlicho and the Dehcho was sent back to ADK, which has yet to reply. ADK Chief Steve Kotchea could not be reached for comment.

Redvers said that, for ADK to get the 6,400 sq. km. of land in the NWT offered by the federal government, it would really require a settlement area of 12,000 sq. km. since Ottawa also wants to reserve 45 per cent of the area as Crown land.

"You can't do it without infringing," he said.

Redvers said two-thirds of the ADK's traditional land is in B.C. and the Yukon, but its agreement only targets land in the NWT. Canada should allow ADK to obtain land in at least the Yukon, he said, explaining that would possibly avoid infringement on Trout Lake and Nahanni Butte traditional land.