NWT Metis Nation stay the course
Leadership re-elected for another term at annual general assembly
Paul Bickford
Northern News Services
Published Monday, November 24, 2014
THEBACHA/FORT SMITH
The Northwest Territory Metis Nation is staying the course on leadership.
Membership re-elected president Garry Bailey of Fort Resolution, vice-president Betty Villebrun of Fort Smith and secretary-treasurer Danny Beck of Hay River at the NWT Metis Nation annual general assembly last week.
Roughly 100 delegates, elders and observers attended the assembly in Fort Smith from Nov. 18 to Nov. 21.
Bailey was acclaimed as president for another two-year term by delegates from Hay River, Fort Smith, Fort Resolution and Yellowknife.
"I think they have trust in the leadership," he said.
Finalizing an agreement on land and resources with the territorial government is the "biggest thing" facing the NWT Metis Nation going into the next term, said Bailey.
An agreement-in-principle was signed between the two governments in 2012. At that time, negotiators were discussing Metis land ownership over 25,194 square kilometres in the South Slave region, capital transfer payments from the GNWT and resource revenue sharing, among other things.
Final agreement negotiations were expected to take two years. Bailey said the NWTMN will get an update in December at a main table meeting of negotiators.
"We've come so far," he said. "We're agreed to move our agreement-in-principle forward. Our chief negotiators have all signed off on it. So we're going to know more about it in December."
The assembly had also unanimously passed a resolution calling on the GNWT to not tax traditional-use cabins until the issue is properly addressed through negotiations and legislative changes.
Ken Hudson, president of the Fort Smith Metis Council, took the opportunity to raise his objections on the issue with Thebacha MLA Michael Miltenberger on the last day of the assembly, Nov. 21.
Hudson called the taxation, which he said began last year, "totally wrong" and said it would have a negative effect on harvesters, especially trappers.
The Fort Smith Metis president received a $266 tax bill for his cabin last year, which he didn't pay. The bill now stands at more than $570.
"We want this dealt with as quickly as you can, because it's just wrong what's happening," he said, adding he knows of other people who also received tax bills.
As minister of Finance, Miltenberger said there is ongoing discussion about the issue.
Transportation Minister Tom Beaulieu also attended the assembly Nov. 21 and spoke about a number of issues, including highways.
Beaulieu announced that the GNWT has been approved for $309 million under the Building Canada Plan to improve highways in NWT, including Highway 5 to Fort Smith and Highway 6 to Fort Resolution.
"Unfortunately, the federal government had removed the section of the highway that runs through Wood Buffalo National Park and indicated to us that was federal infrastructure and was not eligible under the Building Canada Plan," he said, adding the GNWT is still in talks with the federal government on the issue.
In addition, the GNWT is submitting a $20-million request to Parks Canada to try to do something with the gravel highway within Wood Buffalo National Park.
Beaulieu said work will begin on most of the highways with $96 million over the next four years.
Be it resolved...
Resolutions passed during the 2014 NWT Metis Nation's annual general assembly:
- The NWTMN is to petition and lobby the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to impose an immediate total ban on harvesting of the Bathurst caribou herd for conservation purposes; and further that the NWTMN continue to be involved in the management of the Bathurst herd and be included in further discussions regarding allocation of tags for the herd on an equitable basis with other aboriginal groups;
- The NWTMN is to support the request for an inquiry into murdered and missing indigenous women by sending a letter to the prime minister;
- The GNWT must not tax traditional-use cabins used by the organization's indigenous Metis members until the issue is properly addressed through negotiations and legislative changes;
- The NWTMN is to lobby the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to limit the fishery activity in Little Buffalo River to catch and release for non-resident, non-aboriginal and sport fishers;
- The NWTMN is to lobby the federal government to extend the deadline to apply for residential school education credits;
- The NWTMN is to document traditional-use activities within Wood Buffalo National Park by indigenous Metis in support of the organization's desire to select lands in the park as part of land and resources negotiations; and that Parks Canada disclose any archival and historic information in respect to Metis use and occupation of the area now constituting the park;
- The NWTMN is to make every effort to schedule monthly, four-day negotiating sessions with the GNWT and the federal government to expedite a final agreement on land and resources;
- Elders are to receive regular plain-language updates in their communities from a representative of the land and resources negotiating team;
- The NWTMN is to lobby the GNWT to ensure that appropriate consultation and accommodation is undertaken when a proposed GNWT decision may adversely affect aboriginal rights of the NWTMN;
- The NWTMN is to advocate for the protection of trapping cabins, trapping areas and traditional activities;
- The NWTMN is to prepare a proposal to government to clean up the domestic garbage along the shoreline of Great Slave Lake and the Slave River, especially the areas between Hay River, Fort Resolution and Fort Smith, and to include youth in the clean-up as appropriate.
Source: NWT Metis Nation
