K'ATLODEECHE/HAY RIVER RESERVE - One word - slow - kept popping up when chiefs from the Dehcho region received an update last week on negotiations with the federal and territorial governments.

Georges Erasmus: Dehcho Process going slow because Canada wants a lot of detail. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

The update on the Dehcho Process was presented by Georges Erasmus, the chief negotiator for Dehcho First Nations (DFN).

"It's a slow process because Canada is trying to get a very detailed agreement," Erasmus told the DFN's spring leadership meeting held May 12 to 13 on the Hay River Reserve.

Erasmus said Canada wants chapters for an agreement-in-principle that are usually left for a final agreement.

"So it's taking more time," he said.

However, Erasmus said a more detailed agreement-in-principle would mean a shorter time between that deal and a final agreement.

The Dehcho Process began in 1999 to create a public government with ownership and jurisdiction over land and resources.

Erasmus said whenever something important arises in the negotiations, the federal negotiators have to seek guidance.

"That's part of why it's been quite slow," he said.

The negotiator also noted a recent development that might slow the talks even further.

Federal negotiators declined to discuss establishing a Dehcho Land Use Management Authority – a board to oversee things such as oil and gas development, mining and forestry – until the minister of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada responds to the McCrank Report on reforming the regulatory system in the NWT.

Now, John Pollard, a former GNWT finance minister and Hay River mayor, has been appointed to follow up on the McCrank Report.

"Now we will have to deal with him," Erasmus said. "Our feeling is it will be another delaying tactic."

Erasmus described the progress, and sometimes the lack of it, on a number of other chapters in the agreement-in-principle.

The Dehcho is trying to expand compensation to harvesters from industry to include things such as berry picking, not just hunting, fishing and trapping.

"So far, we've been having a little bit of trouble with that," Erasmus said.

The Dehcho is also seeking the same right as the federal and territorial governments to expropriate land for such public projects as highway construction.

That has thrown a bit of a "monkey wrench" into the negotiations, Erasmus said. "No one else asked for it, or if they did, no one else has got it."

Other chapters deal with such things as harvesting rights, access to Dehcho land for people passing through, education, dispute resolution, taxation, governance and ratification.

A ratification vote is still years away.

Erasmus said it may take two more years to reach an agreement-in-principle, a couple of additional years to conclude a final agreement and a year or two to pass the legislation to implement an agreement.

Chief Jim Antoine of Liidlii Kue First Nation in Fort Simpson said some aspects of the negotiations seem to be moving along.

"There are some contentious issues that seem to really slow things down," he said, adding that slowdown is often caused by federal negotiators getting direction from officials in Ottawa for problematic areas.

"I would like to conclude the total process," Antoine said. "It's been dragging on too long."