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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The Gwich'in Tribal Council (GTC) has signed on to the territorial government's Devolution Agreement-in-Principle after months of staunch opposition.

Robert Alexie Jr: Decision will help his people in the long run.

On Sept. 11, president Robert Alexie Jr. signed the agreement-in-principle in Yellowknife, making the Gwich'in the fourth aboriginal group to throw its support behind devolution.

At press time, the NWT Metis Nation, the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation and the Sahtu Secretariat had also signed the agreement-in-principle, while the Tlicho Government, the Dehcho First Nations and the Akaitcho Territory Government have not.

The GTC has been in court with the GNWT since January over an alleged lack of consultation on devolution. However, once Alexie and vice-president Norman Showshoe were elected in June, they consulted with their legal counsel and determined that they were unlikely to win the lawsuit.

"The chances, we felt, after consultation with our legal counsel and other advisors is, it didn't look too good. It didn't look too favourable for us to win," said Alexie.

While the suit has yet to be officially withdrawn, the GTC has decided to drop the case, he said.

To date, the GTC has spent between $350,000 and $400,000 in direct costs alone on the lawsuit, said Alexie. This cost does not include time or travel for administration, he said.

"We take that cost and chalk it up to experience," said Alexie.

In a press conference on Sept. 13, territorial Finance Minister Michael Miltenberger told News/North that he could not disclose how much money the GNWT has spent on the court case so far.

"I don't have a number. I mean, this is a good news story, we're going to move forward together," he said.

The GNWT's recent public outreach campaign could have helped bring the GTC on board, said Miltenberger, although last spring's election of a new executive for the tribal council likely had more to do with it.

"When elections happen, things change and players change, considerations change," he said. "President Alexie, in his new role, has made, I think, some very wise decisions so here we are. I commend him and his board for all the good work and how fast they've acted on this."

Signing on to devolution will give the Gwich'in a seat at the negotiating table and prevent them from losing out on potential revenue and benefits once the devolution deal goes through, said Alexie.

"I hope everything will be done so that we can be at the table on Monday in Ottawa," he told News/North.

Next week, the GNWT's chief negotiator for devolution, Martin Goldney, is scheduled to travel to Ottawa with other government representatives and representatives from each of the aboriginal groups who have signed on to the agreement-in-principle. Alexie said that he will attend these meetings and that having a seat at the table during negotiations will help his people in the long run.

Before signing the agreement-in-principle, the GTC signed a memorandum of understanding with the GNWT that dealt with some of the Gwich'in's main concerns, including how the tribal council's ongoing self-government negotiations will be handled and assurances that the money received through devolution would not be subject to clawbacks and offsets, said Alexie.

"We just wanted to make it very clear to both the Government of Canada and the Government of the NWT that first and foremost, any net fiscal benefits that comes from the devolution agreement to the Gwich'in Tribal Council will not be subject to any clawbacks or offsets under any self-government agreement that we may procure in the next couple of years," he said.

Under the memorandum of understanding, Canada will still be funding the self-government agreement, said Alexie.

The territorial government expects to wrap up devolution negotiations by the end of the calendar year, and plans to implement it by April 2014, said Miltenberger.

In terms of what exactly this devolution deal will mean for the Gwich'in, Alexie said he still has a steep learning curve ahead of him, although a lot of work has been done in recent months to inform people on what devolution will mean for them.

"I think people are more aware of it, I think that people are more understanding of it," he said.

Devolution will transfer jurisdiction over lands and resources to the GNWT from the federal government and and give the territorial government 50 per cent of all resource revenue and royalties. Twenty five per cent of that money will be distributed among the aboriginal groups who signed on to the deal. For the Gwich'in, this will translate to at least an extra $2 million annually, said Alexie.

"We've got people out there who are not working, who are not educated and not trained," he said. "This money can be used toward that."

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